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DANTE  IN  AMERICA 


A  HISTORICAL  AND   BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    STUDY 


THEODORE   W.    KOCH 


'America,  the  new  Ravenna  of  the  great  poet " 

SCARTAZZINI 


BOSTON 
GINN   AND    COMPANY 

(FOR  THE  DANTE  SOCIETY) 
1896 


H^NRY  MORSE  STCPKCMS 

Copyright,  1896 
By  the   DANTE  SOCIETY 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


Reprinted  from  the  Fifteenth  annual  report  of  the  Dante  Society^ 
Cambridge,  Mass. 


■ 


m43 


PREFACE. 


Somewhat  more  than  two  years  ago  my  valued  friend  and 
former  teacher,  the  President  of  our  Dante  Society,  spoke  to  me 
of  the  subject  of  the  present  work  as  a  phase  of  American  literary 
history  in  which  he  had  been  interested  at  the  time  of  the  Dante 
festival  of  1865.  For  that  occasion  he  had  made  a  list  of  the  more 
important  contributions  from  America  to  Dantesque  literature  and, 
without  keeping  a  copy  for  himself,  sent  it  to  the  authorities  in 
charge  of  the  celebration  at  Florence.  A  generation  has  passed 
since  then,  and  Dante  has  gained  in  favor  with  us.  When  Mr. 
Norton  spoke  to  me  of  his  interest  in  the  matter,  he  casually 
remarked  that  he  would  like  to  see  a  resume  of  what  had  been 
written  in  America  about  his  favorite  author.  The  suggestion  thus 
thrown  out  was  harbored  by  me  while  engaged  in  other  researches. 
The  subject  was  very  attractive,  and  by  degrees  a  considerable 
number  of  notes  and  bibliographical  references  accumulated  on 
my  hands.  Learning  of  some  comparatively  unknown  facts  in 
the  career  of  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte,  and  receiving,  through  the 
kindness  of  Miss  Virginia  Wilde,  of  New  Orleans,  the  papers  of 
her  grandfather,  the  late  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  I  was  encouraged 
by  our  Secretary  to  continue  my  investigations  and  prepare  for 
our  Society  a  paper  on  the  subject.  The  work  was  intended  for 
last  year's  Report,  but,  owing  to  repeated  interruptions,  the  putting 
of  it  into  final  shape  consumed  the  leisure  moments  of  many 
months,  and  it  was  at  last  found  necessary  to  delay  its  publication 
until  the  present.     So  many  books  had  to  be  turned  over  in  the 


oil  052 


4  PREFACE. 

making  of  the  bibliography  that  an  undue  proportion  of  time  was 
spent  upon  this  part. 

In  my  account  of  what  has  been  done  in  America  in  the  way  of 
study  and  interpretation  of  Dante,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  treat 
only  of  the  chief  of  his  students,  reserving  for  the  bibliography  and 
notes  other  matters  of  minor  import.  The  amount  of  space  given 
in  my  sketch  to  the  several  workers  in  this  field  must  not  be  con- 
sidered as  indicative  of  my  rating  of  them  or  their  work.  More  is 
said  of  the  pioneers  in  the  movement  than  is  warranted  by  the 
present  value  of  their  tangible  results.  They  left  us  almost  nothing 
in  the  way  of  literature,  but  they  took  the  initiative  step  and  it  is 
for  this  reason  that  I  have  treated  of  them  at  such  length.  In  the 
case  of  Da  Ponte  and  Wilde  it  seemed  necessary  to  enter  into  some 
biographical  detail,  as  their  lives  are  probably  unknown  to  the 
generality  of  those  I  count  upon  as  my  readers.  Of  the  work  of 
the  later  followers  of  Dante,  beginning  with  Longfellow,  so  much 
has  been  said  by  others  —  and  some  of  it  so  admirably  said  —  that 
it  is  with  diffidence  I  have  dared  to  say  anything  new,  and  I  have 
but  seldom  ventured  beyond  the  limits  of  simple  narration.  Those 
Avho  seek  for  further  criticism  and  more  individual  estimate  than 
I  have  been   able  to  give   are   referred  to  the  bibliography  as  an 

abundant  source. 

T.   W.   K. 

September  /j,  tSgb. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

DANTE    IN   AMERICA 7 

Introduction 7 

Lorenzo  Da  Ponte '.        .        .        •        •  lo 

George  Ticknor '      .        .        .        .  i8 

Richard  Henry  Wilde 23 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow 36 

Thomas  William  Parsons    .    ' 47 

James  Russell  Lowell 53 

Charles  Eliot  Norton .60 

Conclusion 62 

Appendix          .        .                64 

AMERICAN    DANTE    BIBLIOGRAPHY       .         .         .         .         .         •  75 

Index       .        .        . M4 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/danteinamericahiOOkochrich 


DANTE    IN   AMERICA. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  interest  in  modern  languages  and  literature  which  is  so  wide- 
spread in  America  to-day  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin.  What 
little  there  was  at  the  end  of  the  last  century  and  in  the  beginning 
of  this  is  to  be  traced  to  commercial  needs  or  to  social  ambitions. 
Moreover,  those  who  sought  instruction  were  often  compelled  to 
study  under  incompetent  and  even  self-taught  men  who  had  little 
notion  of  the  literature,  and  sometimes  no  idea  of  the  proper  pronun- 
ciation of  the  languages  they  professed  to  teach.  In  the  colleges 
it  was  not  much  better  ;  at  Harvard,  says  Lowell,  "  a  stray  French- 
man was  caught  now  and  then  and  kept  as  long  as  he  could  endure 
the  baiting  of  his  pupils.  After  failing  as  a  teacher  of  his  mother- 
tongue,  he  commonly  turned  dancing-master,  a  calling  which  public 
opinion  seems  to  have  put  on  the  same  intellectual  level  with  the 
other."  ^  Da  Ponte  tells  us  that  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to 
New  York,  in  1805,  it  took  him  but  a  few  days  to  discover  that  there 
was  as  little  known  in  that  city  of  the  language  and  literature  of  his 
native  country  as  of  the  language  and  literature  of  Turkey  or  China. 
In  Boston,  in  18 15,  George  Ticknor  found  it  not  only  difficult  to  get 
a  copy  of  Dante,  but  altogether  impossible  to  get  help  in  reading 
it.  Now  all  this  is  changed  ;  the  study  of  the  modern  languages 
has  been  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with  classical  studies,  and  the 
growth  of  interest  in  our  special  author  is  indicative  of  the  extent  of 
the  change.  At  present,  ten  of  our  leading  colleges  are  offering 
special  courses  in  the  study  of  the  Divina  Commedia  ;  Harvard  and 
Cornell  have  most  excellent  Dante  collections,  and  Dantesque  litera- 

1  Address  before  the  Modern  Language  Association,  Caaibridge,  Mass., 
December,  i88q. 


8  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

ture  is  well  represented  in  many  public  and  private  libraries.  In 
our  larger  cities  lectures  are  frequently  given  on  the  poet  and  his 
works,  while  among  the  new  books  and  in  the  literary  journals  the 
name  of  Dante  is  constantly  recurring. 

This  contrast  between  the  present  interest  in  Dante  and  the  small 
following  which  he  had  in  America  in  the  early  part  of  the  century 
indicates  an  advance  in  culture  and  sound  literary  judgment.  The 
statement  that  the  love  of  Italian  poetry  has  risen  and  fallen  in 
England  with  the  rise  and  decay  of  true  poetic  feeling  and  work- 
manship,  is  also,  in  a  much  more  restricted  measure,  of  course,  true 
of  American  letters. 

Dante  and  his  master-work  have  entered  into  the  literary  heritage 
of  our  day,  —  not  only  of  continental  Europe,  but  also  of  the  English- 
speaking  people  at  home  and  abroad.  To  trace  his  varied  fortunes 
before  attaining  to  the  universally  acknowledged  position  of  a  world- 
poet,  is  one  of  the  most  captivating  and  instructive  pieces  of  research- 
work  in  the  history  of  literature.  He  was  praised  and  worshipped  by 
one  generation,  to  be  neglected  or  altogether  misunderstood —  a  worse 
fate  —  by  the  next.  To  many  people  of  different  times  Dante  has 
been  but  a  name  ;  often  the  well-known  name  of  a  man  about  whom 
a  few  facts,  gained  at  second-hand,  have  sufficed  to  sate  curiosity.  ■ 
Among  English  men  of  letters  we  find  him  admired  and  imitated 
by  Chaucer,  read  by  Spenser,  possibly  known  to  Sackville,  and 
curiously  estimated  by  that  saucy  poet  of  Elizabeth's  day.  Sir  John 
Harington,  while  by  Francis  Meres  he  was  compared  to  Matthew  Roy- 
don  !  Then  came  Milton,  by  whom  (to  his  glory  be  it  said)  tribute  was 
paid  to  him  both  in  prose  and  verse.  After  this,  there  follows  a  period 
in  which  there  is  no  token  of  Dante  being  esteemed  worthy  the  atten- 
tion of  English  men  of  culture.  Thus,  in  1749,  Lord  Chesterfield 
writes  to  his  son,  urging  him  to  the  study  of  the  Italian  language, 
and  asserts  that  the  only  two  Italian  poets  who  merit  his  attention 
are  Ariosto  and  Tasso.  Voltaire  gave  voice  to  the  opinion  of  the 
reading  world  of  his  day  when  he  said  of  Dante  :  "  II  y  a  de  lui  une 
vingtaine  de  traits  qu'on  sait  par  ccEur  :  cela  suffit  pour  s'epargner 
la  peine  d'examiner  le  reste."  But  with  the  weakening  of  the  auto- 
cratic sway  of  eighteenth-century  classicism  and  the  assertion  of 
sounder  principles  of  literary  criticism,  Dante's  star  rose  slowly  and 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

Steadily  in  the  horizon  of  English  letters.  Gray  translated  a  canto 
from  X\i^Divi7ia  Commedia;  Coleridge  lectured  on  Dante;  Byron  wrote 
his  "  Prophecy  of  Dante,"  and  Leigh  Hunt  built  up  his  "  Story  of 
Rimini "  on  Dante's  famous  episode,  of  which  he  wrote  in  his  preface 
that  it  was  "  indeed  the  most  cordial  and  refreshing  one  in  the  whole 
of  that  singular  poem,  the  Infertio  .  .  .  which,  I  confess,  has  always 
appeared  to  me  a  kind^  of  subhme  nightmare."  Hunt  had  not  out- 
grown his  cramped  and  unsympathetic  appreciation  of  Dante  thirty 
years  later,  when  he  wrote  his  "Stories  from  the  Italian  Poets." 
Such  utterances  as  we  find  there  and  in  contemporary  criticism  show 
us  that  this  art  had  not  yet  been  firmly  reestablished  on  a  scientific 
basis. 

However,  the  greatest  factor  in  the  fortune  of  Dante  in  England, 
and  secondarily  in  America,  was  the  number  of  translations  of  his 
work  which  had  already  beguA  to  appear.  It  was  one  of  the  hopeful 
signs  of  returning-liberty  and  consequent  right  growth  of  appreciation. 
He  was  Englished  in  turn  by  Rogers,  Boyd,  Cary,  Dayman,  Wright, 
Cayley,  and  an  increasing  host  of  others,  until  to-day  the  appearance 
of  a  new  translation,  in  whole  or  part,  has  become  quite  an  ordinary 
literary  event.  Though  their  merits  differ  widely,  each  translation 
has  had  at  least  its  own  circle  of  readers,  and  so  has  helped  to  draw 
attention  to  this  master-work,  and  to  lead  many  to  the  study  of  the 
original. 

But  while  of  late  years  Dante  has  had  so  large  a  following  in ' 
England,  he  has  been  no  less  warmly  received  in  America.  It  is 
but  natural  that  it  should  be  so.  From  England  we  inherited  many  of 
our  traditions  and  tastes  ;  when  Dante  came  to  be  widely  read  in 
England  we  welcomed  him  here,  read  him,  and  began  to  study  him  for 
ourselves.  The  first  Dante  printed  in  America  was  Gary's  translation, 
Philadelphia,  1822,  —  six  years  later  than  Hoole's  Ariosto,^  and  twelve 
years  later  than  the  same  writer's  Tasso.^  The  selected  sonnets  and 
odes    translated  from    Petrarch    by  George    Frederick    Nott,^  were 

1  Philadelphia,  Henry  Hudson,  18 16.     6  vols.     24°. 

2  First  American  from  the  eighth  London  edition.  Newburyport,  E.  Little  & 
Co.,  eU.,  1810.     2  vols.    8°. 

3  Boston,  J.  Belcher,  1809.  12°.  Same.  New  York,  Inskeep  &  Bradford,  etc. 
1809. 


lO  DANTE  JN  AMERICA. 

reprinted  in  this  country  as  early  as  1809,  which  is  also  the  date  of 
the  American  issue  of  Mrs.  Dobson's  translation  of  De  Sade's  Life 
of  Petrarch.*  This  antedating  of  Dante  in  America  by  the  other 
three  of  the  quattro  poeti  italiani  is  but  another  indication  of  the 
source  of  our  first  introduction  to  Italian  literature.  Both  in  England 
and  America  Dante  came  last,  but  seems  destined  to  stay  longest. 


LORENZO    DA    PONTE. 

The  man  to  whom  credit  is  due  for  being  the  first  in  America  to 
direct  attention  to  the  beauties  of  Italian  literature,  and  expound 
Dante  to  an  American  audience,  is  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte.  This  man 
of  unique  character  and  most  varied  fortune  is  by  no  means  so  well 
known  as  his  personality  and  life  would  warrant.  Born  of  Hebrew 
parents  in  1749,  in  Ceneda,  a  small  city  in  the  province  of  Venetia, 
he  was  denied,  owing  to  the  popular  prejudice  against  Jews,  the  privi- 
lege of  attendance  at  the  common  schools.^  At  the  age  of  fourteen, 
feeling  the  need  of  greater  educational  advantages,  he  became  a, 
convert  to  Christianity  and  entered  the  seminary  of  his  native  town, 
where  he  found  a  protector  in  the  Bishop  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte,  whose 
name  he  thenceforth  assumed.  Six  years  later,  on  the  death  of  his 
patron,  he  left  Ceneda  and  went  to  the  seminary  at  Porto  Gruaro, 
where  a  little  later  he  held  for  two  years  a  professorship  of  rhetoric. 
His  subsequent  novel  experiences  at  Venice,  his  banishment  thence 
and  his  journeying  to  Dresden  and  afterwards  to  Vienna  in  search 
of  a  position  as  court-poet,  which  he  secured  at  the  latter  place  and 
held  for  twelve  years  under  Joseph    II,  his   dismissal  by  Joseph's 

1  Philadelphia,  A.  Finley  &  W.  H.  Hopkins,  1809.  2  vols.  16°.  Same.  Boston, 
Farrand,  Mallory  &  Co. 

2  We  do  not  know  Da  Ponte's  real  name ;  he  tells  us  very  little  about  his 
own  family.  His  Hebrew  origin  has  been  questioned,  and  the  matter  has  been 
discussed /r<7  and  con.  There  is  one  little  argument  for  it  which  I  have  never 
seen  brought  forward.  In  his  discourse  "  SuH'  Italia,"  of  182 1,  he  quotes  Exodus 
in  the  original  Hebrew.  If  not  brought  up  in  the  rabbinical  lore,  when  and  where 
did  he  learn  the  language  of  the  Pentateuch  > 


.      DA    PONTE.  II 

successor  and  his  departure  for  London,  where  he  met  with  varied 
success  until  compelled  by  the  failure  of  the  Italian  theatre  there 
to  seek  anew  his  fortune  in  America  at  the  age  of  sixty,  —  all 
this  is  delightfully  told  in  his  "  Memorie."  These  were  printed  in 
Italian,  New  York,  1823,  and  in  a  revised  and  enlarged  edition  in 
1829-30.  The  book  is  now  exceedingly  scarce  and  is  mostly  treas- 
ured by  those  who  care  to  know  more  of  the  librettist  of  Mozart's 
"  Don  Giovanni  "  and  "  II  Nozze  di  Figaro."  ^  Despite  faults  com- 
mon to  the  autobiographic  writing  of-  the  time.  Da  Ponte's  memoirs 
form  very  pleasant  reading,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  they  are 
not  to  be  had  complete  in  any  but  the  poorly  printed  volumes  of  the 
author's  lifetime.  The  book  has  received  more  attention  abroad  than 
here,  and  has  been  translated  into  both  French  and  German.^ 


1  Da  Ponte  tells  us  that  on  the  night  in  which  he  began  "  Don  Giovanni  "  he 
started  by  reading  a  few  lines  from  Dante's  Inferno,  in  order,  as  he  says,  to  put 
himself  into  good  tune  ! 

'^  In  a  copy  of  the  French  translation  by  M.  C.  D.  de  la  Chavanne  (Paris, 
i860),  belonging  to  the  Library  Company  of  Philadelphia,  I  find  the  following 
MS.  note  :  "This  translation  was  unfortunately  made  from  the  first  edition.  In 
1829  Da  Ponte  published  in  Italian  a  second  edition  for  his  pupils,  much  fuller 
of  entertaining  facts  and  thoughts.  I  knew  him  intimately  during  four  of  his 
years  in  Sunbury.  A  perfectly  honest  man,  a  delightful  companion,  unsuspicious 
and  often  led  into  trouble  by  rogues.  He  was  tall,  well-built,  very  beautiful,  and 
of  highly  polished  manners.  He  was  very  temperate  and  regular  in  all  his  ways. 
He  was  thoroughly  versed  in  Latin,  which  he  quoted  and  spoke  with  fluency. 
He  died  in  New  York  in  1838,  aged  89;  hence  the  translator  has  erred  in  making 
him  say,  p.  355,  that  he  was  then,  at  the  publication  of  his  first  edition,  in  his 
ninety-seventh  year.  I  was  his  family  physician  four  years, — et  nunc  'fungor 
inani  munere.' " 

S[amuel]  I[ackson],  1237  Spruce  St.  [Phila.]. 

Mr.  H.  E.  Krehbiel,  apropos  of  a  performance  of  "  Don  Giovanni,"  in  his 
*'  Review  of  the  New  York  Musical  Season,  1889-90,"  has  written  the  best 
account  of  Da  Ponte  in  America  ;  he  clears  up  many  hitherto  uncertain  points. 
For  other  sketches,  see  Dr.  John  W.  Francis'  "Old  New  York,"  1866,  pp.  254, 
260-269  ;  Samuel  Ward,  Jr.,  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  August,  1838  (afterwards 
reprinted  for  private  circulation)  ;  H.  T.  Tuckerman  in  Piitnani's  Magazine, 
November,  1868,  vol.  xii,  pp.  527-536,  reprinted  in  the  Dublin  University  Magazine, 
August,  1872,  vol.  Ixxx,  pp.  215-224  ;  Mrs.  Janet  Ross  in  Macmillan'' s  Magazine, 
November,  1891,  vol.  Ixv,  pp.  53-56  ;  Prof.  G.  R.  Carpenter  in  the  Columbia 
\College'\  Lite7'ary  Monthly,  April,  1895,  vol.  iii,  pp.  289-292. 


12  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

It  is  not  within  our  province  to  discuss  the  different  aspects  of  Da 
Ponte's  character.  He  himself  confesses  to  a  "debolezza,"  to  which 
he  attributes  his  many  failures.  He  had  no  aptitude  for  business, 
and  was  constantly  bringing  his  industrious  wife  to  grief  ;  yet  he 
was  always  sure  to  be  struck  with  fitting  remorse  for  his  faults, 
and  was  not  sparing  in  self-reproach.  During  the  first  years  of  his 
residence  in  America,  his  ill-starred  fate  seems  to  have  followed 
him  ;  after  spending  a  few  years  in  New  York,  he  embarked  in  various 
business  ventures  in  one  place  and  another,  and  soon  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  unprincipled  schemers.  But  on  the  14th  of  August,  18 18, — 
'*benedetto  sia  il  giorno,"  says  he,  —  he  bade  good-bye  to  his  country 
store  at  Sunbury,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  before  long  returned  to  New 
York.  Here  a  more  congenial  life  opened  to  him.  He  installed 
himself  as  bookseller  and  importer  of  Italian  books  and  wares,  and 
eked  out  his  income  by  teaching  the  Italian  language  to  a  rapidly 
widening  circle  of  cultured  young  men  and  women.  He  soon  became 
a  favorite  tutor  in  the  best  families  of  the  city.  With  young  ladies 
he  was  particularly  successful ;  he  has  printed,  without  correction,  a 
number  of  Italian  letters  which  he  received  from  them,  and  it  must  be 
said  that  they  are  of  a  quality  to  do  credit  to  both  the  aptness  of  the 
pupils  and  the  efficiency  of  the  teacher.  They  are  of  value  to  us  in 
furnishing  ample  evidence  of  the  enthusiasm  for  Italian  literature 
inspired  by  the  teaching  of  Da  Ponte,  and  proving  how  popular  an 
author  Dante  was  among  the  pupils.  Some  of  them  send  prose 
translations  of  passages  from  the  Divina  Commedia,  and  all  evince 
for  the  poem  a  fondness  born  of  the  skill  and  care  of  their  instructor. 
It  is  to  these  fair  pupils  that  he  makes  this  appeal  in  his  "  Orazione  " 
of  1828  :  "  Voi,  voi  mie  carissime  allieve,  chedi  sangue  piu  vivido,  di 
fibre  piu  sensibili,  e  di  spiriti  forse  piii  delicati,  io  vidi  tan  to  sovente 

Arder,  gelar,  languir,  fremer,  gioire, 

alia  lettura  de'  nostri  autori,  voi  facilmente  potete  intendere  e  dire, 
quanto  age  vole  mi  sarebbe  abbagliare,  innamorare,  stordire,  offrendo 
de'  saggi  d'  incomparabile  grandezza,  sublimit^,  originalitk  nel  poema 
di  Dante."  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  with  Da  Ponte  teaching  was 
a  labor  of  love,  and  that  he  was  truly  fond  of  his  young  pupils  and 
had  their  affection  in  return.     He  very  prettily  dedicates  an  edition 


DA    PONTE. 


13 


of  three  of  his  librettos  to  "  tre  leggiadrissimi  fiori  del  suo  toscano 
giardino." 

Da  Ponte  is  often  brief  on  matters  which  to  us  seem  of  far  greater 
importance  than  the  entanglements  and  annoyances  to  which  he  was 
constantly  subjected.  We  would  gladly  exchange  some  of  his  dis- 
quisitions upon  the  worthlessness  of  seeming  friends  and  the  repeated 
narration  of  business  difficulties  for  a  fuller  account  of  his  career  as 
librettist  before  coming  to  America,  or  of  his  pedagogical  experience 
after  finally  settling  in  our  metropolis.  His,  however,  is  not  the  only 
autobiography  with  which  this  fault  of  lack  of  perspective  is  to  be 
found.  We  must  be  thankful  that  he  has  given  us  an  outline  of  his 
method  of  introducing  pupils  to  Italian  literature.  He  tells  us  that 
after  he  had  drilled  them  in  the  rudiments  of  the  language  and  had 
read  with  them  the  best  writers  of  Tuscan  prose  suited  to  their 
respective  attainments,  he  gave  them  the  poets,  beginning  with 
Metastasio  and  Alfieri,  and  leading  up  to  Tasso,  Petrarch,  and 
Dante.     I  translate  from  the  second  edition  of  his  memoirs  : 

Although  all  these  authors  were  generally  loved,  yet  who  was  admired 
and  studied  the  most  ?  It  was  the  Ghibelline.  This  most  just  admiration 
accorded  to  the  father  and  chief  of  our  literature  impelled  me  to  study  with 
the  greatest  fervor  that  divine  poem,  so  that  I  might  throw  light  on  its 
obscurities  and  explain  its  difficult  passages.  I  had  already  studied  and 
pondered  the  most  celebrated  commentators  ;  nevertheless,  it  appearing 
to  me  that  a  place  still  remained  for  illustrations,  I  myself  dared  to  make 
some  for  various  cantos,  which  one  of  my  most  cultured  pupils  published  in 
a  journal  which  he  was  editing.  Although  my  observations  gave  general 
pleasure,  yet  in  order  to  assure  myself  of  their  value  I  decided  to  send  a 
copy  of  them  to  Biagioli,  truly  a  commentator  of  much  merit,  of  whose 
annotations  I  circulated  more  than  ten  copies  in  America.  In  the  preface 
appended  to  his  first  edition  1  he  invites  scholars  of  //  bel  paese  to  make 
known  to  him  where  he  may  have  erred  through  ignorance  or  through  too 
great  ardor,  and  promises  to  receive  con  seno  aperto  their  comments  and 
corrections,  and  report  them  with  the  names  of  their  authors  in  a  new 
edition,  if  such  were  ever  issued.  Since,  however.  Signer  Biagioli  has 
neither  received  me  con  seno  aperto^  nor  considered  me  worthy  of  a  reply, 
I  knew  to  my  shame  that  he  neither  placed  me  among  the  scholars  of  Italy 
(and  in  this  point  I  acknowledge  him  to  be  right),  nor  did  he  believe  my 

1  Paris,  1818-19.     Vol.  i,  p.  xliv. 


14'  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

observations  worthy  of  being  reported  by  liim.  .  .  .  Perhaps  he  thought  it 
strange  that  an  insignificant  language-master,  who  has  now  been  living  for 
more  than  fifteen  years  in  America,  dares  to  hold  opinions  different  from  his 
own  on  the  interpretation  of  Dante.  But  you  know  well,  dear  Signor 
Biagioli,  that  the  good  Homer  sometimes  nods,  and  that  a  man  without  eyes 
found  a  horse-shoe  which  others  had  not  found  with  their  eyes. 

Da  Ponte  goes  on  to  say  that  the  tacit  judgment  of  so  erudite  a 
philologist  as  Biagioli  so  discouraged  him  that  he  did  not  dare  to 
continue  the  work  of  annotation  which  he  had  begun ;  nevertheless, 
he  preferred  to  appeal  to  the  scholars  of  Italy  for  a  decision  as  to 
the  merit  of  his  ideas,  and  to  this  end  he  purposed  appending  to  the 
third  volume  of  his  memoirs  a  note  giving  the  main  differences 
between  his  interpretations  and  those  of  Biagioli,  but,  I  regret  to  say, 
the  volume  comes  to  an  end  without  any  such  note  appearing. 

These  references  to  his  differings  with  Biagioli  have  long  been 
known  to  Dantists  interested  in  Da  Ponte,  but  no  one  could  tell 
what  they  were  or  where  they  had  been  published.  It  was  only  after 
a  long  search  that  I  found  them  in  a  magazine  edited  by  his  son-in- 
law.  Professor  Henry  J.  Anderson  (the  favorite  pupil  to  whom  he  so 
frequently  refers),  in  conjunction  with  William  Cullen  Bryant  and 
Robert  C.  Sands.  The  journal  came  into  existence  in  May,  1825,  was 
known  as  the  Neiv  York  Review  and  Athenceiim  Magazine^  and  died  on 
entering  upon  its  second  year.  As  copies  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  but 
few  of  our  libraries,  I  have  thought  it  desirable  to  reprint  in  an 
appendix  this  earliest  contribution  from  America  to  the  textual  criti- 
cism of  the  Divina  Commedia. 

In  th&Rivista  Contemporatiea  for  May,  1861,  Jacopo  Bernardi  wrote 
on  "  La  Divina  Commedia  interpretata  per  la  prima  volta  da  Lorenzo 
Da  Ponte  agli  Americani."  He  speaks  of  Da  Ponte  as  an  "  inf aticabile 
promulgatore  delle  glorie  dantesche,"  and  prints  "  alcune  eloquenti 
pagine  che  intorno  all'  Alighieri  scriveva  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte,  quando 
recava,  insieme  all'  insegnamento  della  lingua  italiana,  il  conoscimento 
e  I'affetto  del  massimo  nostro  scrittore  in  America."  He  gives  the 
following  from  Da  Ponte's  "  Storia  incredibile  ma  vera  "  of  1833  :  ^ 

1  Nuova  Jorca,  Joseph  Desnoues,  1833.  16°.  pp.  35.  This  constitutes  the 
second  part  of  his  *'  Storia  della  compagnia  dell'  opera  italiana  condotta  da 
Giacomo  Montresor  in  America  in  agosto  dell'  anno  1832."    [New  York,  1833.] 


DA    PONTE. 


15 


Son  passati  omai  venti  otto  anni  da  che  vivo  in  America.  Conobbi 
air  arrivo  mio  che  niente  vi  si  sapea  della  lingua  e  letteratura  italiana,  e 
animate  da  patrio  zelo  e  dall'  amore  del  bene,  credei  che  fosse  cosa  da  me 
r  introdurvele.  Se  quegh,  dicev'  io,  che  porta  un'  erba  salutifera,  un  fiore 
leggiadro,  una  pianta  di  frutto  raro  in  un  paese  straniero,  e  dalla  gente 
lodato,  di  quanta  maggior  lode  non  dee  reputarsi  degno  colui  che  per  la 
prima  volta  vi  porta  la  piii  dolce  di  tutte  le  moderne  favelle  e  la  piu  vasta  e 
ammirabile  letteratura?  Io  toccava  1'  anno  cinquantesimo  sesto  quando 
giunsi  in  America,  e  all'  anno  cinquantesimo  nono  mi  posi  al  nobile  cimento. 
Sono  ora  vicino  all'  ottantesimo  quinto,  e  in  questo  spazio  di  tempo,  io  solo, 
io  non  favorito  dalla  fortuna,  anzi  da  continue  disavventure  e  peripezie 
travagliato  e  sbattuto,  ebbi  il  constante  coraggio  d'  introdurre  e  questa  lingua 
e  questa  letteratura  nella  piu  ampia  parte  del  globo,  d'instruire  piu  di  due 
mila  persone,  di  spargerne  il  fulgore  per  tutte  le  sue  principali  cittk,  di 
eccitare  1'  ammirazione  e  il  desiderio  de'  suoi  tesori  colle  pubbliche  letture, 
cogli  scritti,  colle  autorita,  coi  cataloghi  degli  scrittori  ;  difenderle,  se  criti- 
cate  da  scioli,  da  invidi,  da  ignoranti,  e  di  elevarle  a  cotanta  altezza,  che 
non  solamente  note,  ma  care  e  pregiate  divennero  ai  piii  colti  e  svegliati 
della  Nazione,  e  a'  veri  amatori  dell'  utile  e  dilettevole.  Consecrando  per 
venticinque  anni  continui  il  tempo,  le  cure  e  gli  studii  alia  gloria  della  mia 
patria,  trassi  da  varie  parti  d'  Europa  piu  di  24,000  volumi  di  scelte  opere  ; 
e  quanto  di  piii  mirabile  ha  1'  antica  e  moderno  italica  scola  nelle  piu  gravi 
e  astruse  scienze,  non  che  nelle  belle  lettere  ed  arti,  fu  recato  da  me  negli 
Stati  Uniti  d'  America,  incominciando  da  Dante  co'  suoi  migliori  contem- 
poranei  e  dall'  immortal  Galileo  al  La  Grangia  .  .  .  fino  alle  odierne 
leggiadrissime  produzioni. 

Bernardi  also  quotes  from  an  address  by  Da  Ponte,  which  he  says 
was  printed  in  New  York  in  1824  with  other  of  Da  Ponte's  writings. 
This  portion  of  Bernardi's  account  of  his  fellow-countryman  was 
reprinted  in  the  Giornale  del  Centenario,  and  Mr.  Lane  ^  and  others, 
reading  it  there  with  Bernardi's  introductory  note,  drew  from  the 
latter  the  inference  that  Da  Ponte  published  a  series  of  lectures  on 
Dante.  I  see  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  following  is  anything 
but  an  extract  from  an  introductory  lecture  to  a  course  of  readings 
from  Dante,  or  Italian  literature,  and  that  it  appeared  in  one  of  the 
miscellanies  which  Da  Ponte  published  about  this  time. 

1  "  The  Dante  Collections  in  the  Harvard  College  and  Boston  Public  Libraries," 
1890,  p.  60b. 


1 6  DANTE   nV  AMERICA. 

.  .  .  Qual  obbligazione  per6  non  ha  Firenze  e  1'  Italia  tutta  a  questo 
immortal  cittadino  per  averle  con  quel  suo  maraviglioso  poema  data  una 
lingua  tanto  perfetta,  clie  sino  dal  suo  cominciamento  ottenne  tal  preminenza 
su  tutte  le  altre,  e  V  ottenne  mostrandosi  capace  fin  dalla  cuna  di  somminis- 
trare  i  materiali  per  un  edifizio  si  vasto,  si  nuovo,  si  vario,  si  sorprendente 
come  tutti  dicono  essere  la  Divina  Commedia  ? 

Se  per6  la  sublimitk  del  soggetto,  la  moltiplicitk  delle  materie,  la  lonta- 
nanza  de'  tempi  e  de'  f atti,  e  la  quantitk  delle  immagini  e  de'  pensieri  reconditi 
e  con  voci  e  maniere  nuove  spiegati  ;  se  finalmente  la  massa  delle  gravi  ed 
astruse  dottrine  contenute  in  un  testo  ora  mutilato  ed  ora  variato  rese  in 
molti  luoghi  difficile  1'  intelligenza  di  tal  poeta,  fu  cosa  degna  dei  nostri 
maggiori,  ed  h  simigliantemente  di  noi,  il  cercare  e  adottare  tutti  i  mezzi 
possibili  per  facilitarne  la  intelligenza,  e  questo  non  solo  per  1'  utilitk  e  pel 
diletto  che  da  un  lavoro  tanto  mirabile  si  pu6  trarre,  ma  per  diffondere  e 
manifestare  in  ogni  tempo  di  piu  in  piu  il  merito  impareggiabile  d'  un  ingegno 
si  peregrino,  e  la  nostra  riconoscenza  per  la  gloria  che  ricade  da  quello 
sulla  nazione  italiana.  ... 

After  sketching  the  rise  and  spread  of  the  study  of  Dante  in 
the  different  parts  of  Europe,  Da  Ponte  concludes  thus  : 

E  che  fece  1'  America?  Mi  permettano  gli  amici  miei  e  della  veritk  di 
darmi  il  vanto  glorioso  d'  essere  stato  il  primo  a  portarlo  in  questa  cittk,  a 
leggerlo  a  un  numero  ragguardevole  di  quegli  allievi  ch'  ebbi  la  sorte  di 
educare  nella  nostra  lingua,  afar  loro  gustar  le  bellezze  maravigliose  del 
nostro  primo  poeta,  a  far  ornare  le  biblioteche  della  studiosa  gioventu  de' 
suoi  preziosi  volumi,  come  di  quelli  della  lor  propria  lingua,  a  destare  in  uno 
de'  piu  svegliati  coltivatori  della  lingua  italiana  1'  onorato  desiderio  di  dare 
anche  all'  America  una  nuova  traduzione  di  si  grand'  opera.^  Ma  cio  h 
poco,  signori,  al  mio  vivissimo  zelo  per  questo  luminare  della  mia  patria,  h 
poco  alia  brama  che  nutro  d'  esser  utile,  per  quanto  le  mie  poche  forze  e  le 
mie  cognizioni  permettono,  agli  abitanti  onorati  di  una  cittk  che  mi  accolse 
graziosamente,  che  secondo  i  desiderii  miei,  che  ricompens6  e  incoraggi  in 
varii  modi  le  fatiche  e  le  cure  mie  ;  h.  poco  infine  alia  ben  giusta  gratitudine 
del  mio  core  ;  ed  h.  per  questo  che  ho  proposto  di  rendere  ancor  piu  diffusa 
la  fama  del  nostro  poeta,  leggendolo  a'  colti  e  svegliati  ingegni  di  New 
York  ;  h  per  questo  che  assunsi  il  dolce  ed  onorevole  incarico  di  insegnare 

1  We  have  no  evidence  of  this  having  gone  any  farther  than  the  praiseworthy 
desire.  Anderson  is  probably  the  person  to  whom  reference  is  made.  For  many 
years  he  held  a  professorship  in  Columbia  College,  and  though  his  specialty  was 
mathematics,  he  was  a  man  of  broad  culture  and  was  attracted  towards  literature. 


DA    PONTE.  ly 

la  lingua  creata  da  lui  a  quelli  che  ancor  non  la  sanno,  o  che  non  la  sanno 
abbastanza  per  intendere  le  varie  bellezze,  le  profonde  dottrine  e  gli  alti 
misteri  trattati  con  penna  non  hoinini  data  de  tanto  Genio. 

Da  Ponte  was  accorded  the  privilege  of  officiating  at  Columbia 
College  in  the  capacity  of  a  private  tutor  ;  he  drew  no  salary  from 
the  College  itself,  though  he  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  having  held 
a  professorship  there  from  1826  to  1837.  "  Professor  sine  exemplo,^' 
says  he,  "  cioe  senza  scolari  e  senza  stipendio."  Nevertheless  he 
succeeded  in  attracting  attention  to  his  favorite  theme,  and  in  bring- 
ing into  the  library  of  that  institution  many  Italian  works  in  various 
branches  of  literature.  The  best  Italian  authors  were  represented 
by  a  collection  of  books  which  Da  Ponte  made  and  sold  to  the  New 
York  Society  Library.  Through  him  also  the  Library  of  Congress 
secured  a  superb  edition  of  Dante  and  copies  of  the  other  most 
important  writers  of  Italy.  Making  due  allowance  for  Da  Ponte's 
egotism,  which  sometimes  prompts  him  to  paint  his  own  achievements 
in  rather  vivid  colors,  —  but  which  is  not  of  the  unpleasant  kind,  — 
we  must  grant  that  we  were  the  gainers  by  the  misfortunes  which 
drove  him  to  this  country.  The  change  in  the  state  of  local  interest 
in  Italian  literature  between  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  New  York, 
when  he  could  find  in  all  that  city  but  one  book  written  in  his  native 
tongue,  an  old  "  Decamerone,"  and  thirty  years  later,  when  his  career 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  must  be  largely  attributed  to  his  influence, 
even  while  we  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  intellectual  interests  of 
the  people  were  broadening.^ 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life,  Da  Ponte  was  oppressed  by  a  constant 
fear  of  being  deprived  of  the  credit  attaching  to  his  various  achieve- 
ments, and   of   dying   unwept   and   unhonored,  —  in    the   main,   a 

1  Another  cultivated  Italian  of  a  half-century  ago  to  devote  himself  in  his  later 
years  to  teaching  his  native  language  in  America  was  Piero  Maroncelli,  the  fellow- 
prisoner  of  Silvio  Pellico  at  Spielberg.  For  a  considerable  time  he  lived  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  and  an  English  translation  by  Mrs.  Andrews  Norton,  of  Pellico's 
"  Le  mie  prigioni,"  with  Maroncelli's  additions  and  some  of  his  miscellaneous 
writings,  was  published  there  in  1836.  Still  another  in  this  group  was  Filippo 
Mancinelli,  who  published  in  Philadelphia,  n.d.,  an  Italian  reader  for  the  use  of  his 
pupils.  Of  Pietro  Bachi,  the  instructor  in  Italian  at  Harvard  University  from 
1826  to  1846,  I  shall  have  something  to  say  when  I  speak  of  Longfellow's  work 
at  Harvard. 


1 8  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

fear  destined  to  be  realized.  This  strain  runs  through  all  his  later 
writings,  and  one  of  his  last  publications  is  dedicated  "a  pochi 
dei  miei  allievi  ed  amici  che  si  ricordano  ancora  di  me."  ^  In  the 
preface  to  the  same  volume  he  utters  this  lament  :  *'  lo  ho  instruiti 
in  28  anni  nello  studio  della  mia  lingua,  che  10,  E  NON  ALTRI, 
introdussi  in  America,  duemila  cinquecento  persone.  Duemila 
quattrocento  e  novanta  quattro  persone  si  sono  dimenticate  di  me, 
e  posso  dire  anch'  io  col  Reale  Prof  eta,  dereliqtterufit  7ne  amici  mei'^ 
His  declining  years  were  enveloped  in  obscurity,  and,  though  we 
cannot  search  out  the  reasons  for  it,  we  know  that  he  died  in  strait- 
ened circumstances,  with  but  few  staunch  friends  left  him.  Before 
long  the  place  of  his  burial  was  forgotten  ;  to-day  it  is  as  lost  as  that 
of  his  former  collaborator  Mozart. 


GEORGE    TICKNOR. 

George  Ticknor  gave  an  impetus  to  the  study  of  Dante  in  this 
country  by  instituting,  during  his  occupancy  (1819-35)  of  the  chair 
of  modern  languages  at  Harvard,  a  course  of  lectures  and  readings 
devoted  to  the  Divina  Commedia  and  its  author.  The  work  thus 
begun  has  been  taken  up  in  turn  by  such  able  interpreters  of  the  best 
in  literature  as  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and  Norton,  and  under  their  care 
the  course  has  naturally  proved  a  permanent  attraction  among  the 
culture  studies  of  that  university.  Ticknor  himself  was  not  much 
concerned  with  the  literary  and  historical  significance  of  Dante's 
work,  but  was  attracted  rather  to  its  linguistic  interpretation.  His 
studies  were  always  of  a  linguistic  and  historical  nature,  and  the 
notes  he  made  on  the  Divina  Commedia  have  to  do  with  the  word 
and  not  with  the  spirit  of  the  poem. 

In  18 1 5,  a  young  man  of  twenty-four,  Ticknor  went  abroad  for  the 
purpose  of  study.     He  had  already  conceived  an  interest  in  the  early 

1  II  Mezenzio,  tragedia  originale.  Nuova  Jorca,  Joseph  Desnoues,  1834.  18** 
pp.  77+ (2). 


TICK  NOR.  19 

Italian  poets,  and  before  leaving  home  had  sought  in  vain  for  some 
help  in  reading  Dante.  In  Germany  he  met  with  better  success : 
Herr  Balhorn,  a  tutor  to  some  royal  family  in  Gottingen,  offered  to 
introduce  him  to  the  Divifia  Coniinedia.  "  Balhorn,"  says  Ticknor, 
"  knew  everything  about  Dante.  He  was  not  fully  occupied,  but  he 
could  not  be  hired,  —  he  was  too  well  off  to  be  paid  in  money.  A 
brother  of  my  friend  Mr.  James  Savage  had  sent  me  from  Hamburg 
a  box  of  very  fine  Havana  cigars,  and  I  found  that  Herr  Balhorn 
would  read  and  explain  Dante  to  me  and  consider  some  of  those  fine 
cigars  —  so  rare  in  Germany  —  a  full  compensation  ;  and  he  con- 
tinued the  reading  certainly  as  long,  as  the  cigars  lasted."  Ticknor 
speaks  of  having  a  copy  of  Dante  always  with  him  during  this  early 
sojourn  in  Europe,  and  he  continued  to  read  and  study  him  after  his 
return  to  America. 

On  entering  upon  his  professorship  at  Harvard,  he  undertook  some 
reforms  in  the  management  of  his  department ;  thus  he  insisted  that 
a  speaking  knowledge  of  the  modern  languages  studied  should  always 
be  striven  for.  In  his  spirited  address  on  the  best  method  of  teaching 
the  living  languages,  he  remarks  that  "  the  great  masters  in  all  ages 
and  in  all  nations  have  built  on  the  same  foundations,  and  can  be 
successfully  approached  only  in  one  way."  "Who,"  he  asks,  "can 
be  aware  either  of  the  sublimity  or  the  tenderness  of  Dante  unless 
he  studies  that  unwritten  language  from  which  alone  this  first  and 
greatest  master  of  Italian  poetry  could  draw  his  material  and  inspira- 
tion ?  "  Here,  perhaps,  we  have  a  partial  explanation  for  the  linguis- 
tic nature  of  his  study  of  Dante. 

In  183 1  he  was  lecturing  three  times  a  week  to  a  special  class  in 
Dante,  and  in  one  of  his  letters,  he  speaks  of  having  spent  his  summer 
vacation  in  the  study  of  this  one  author,  devoting  to  him  often  twelve 
and  fourteen  hours  a  day,  "  with  uninterrupted  and  equable  pleasure." 
"If  I  am  not  a  better  man  for  it,"  he  writes,  "and  a  happier  one, 
too,  why  I  shall  have  misused  my  opportunities  scandalously,  as 
many  better  men  have  done  before  me." 

During  his  second  residence  in  Europe  Mr.  Ticknor  had  the  good 
fortune  to  meet,  at  Dresden,  Prince  John  of  Saxony,  "  Philalethes," 
well  known  to  Dante  students,  and  to  attend  the  gatherings  called  for 
the  purpose  of  reading  over  and  revising  the  first  draft  of  Prince  John's 


20  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

translation.'  The  honest  and  candid  criticism  passed  in  this  informal 
way  upon  the  work  in  its  first  stage  brings  to  mind  the  Wednesday 
evening  assemblies  of  a  generation  later  at  Longfellow's  home  in 

1  In  his  journal  for  1836,  Ticknor  gives  the  following  account  of  those  meet- 
ings: 

January  8.  I  passed  —  by  appointment  made  according  to  the  court  cere- 
monies—  an  hour  this  afternoon  with  I'rince  John.  Nothing  could  be  more 
simple  and  unpretending  than  his  manners.  I  wanted  to  see  him  on  account  of 
his  knowledge  of  Dante,  of  whose  Inferno  he  has  printed  a  translation  with 
very  good  notes  ;  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  I  was  with  him  he  was 
occupied  in  showing  me  the  books  and  apparatus  he  had  collected  for  the  study 
of  the  great  Italian  master.  Some  .of  them  were  quite  curious.  ...  In  all 
respects  I  found  him  well  informed,  in  some  learned,  and  he  was  truly  agreeable 
because  it  was  plain  he  desired  to  be  so. 

His  establishment  is  yery  elegant  and  luxurious,  and  his  study,  where  he 
received  me,  looked  truly  scholar-like  and  comfortable.  Among  other  things  he 
showed  me  a  beautiful  collection  of  drawings  in  an  album,  relating  to  Dante, 
which  had  been  from  time  to  time  given  to  him  by  his  family,  —  all  original,  of 
course,  and  two  or  three  by  Retzsch,  of  the  greatest  vigor  and  beauty,  and  exe- 
cuted in  pencil  with  the  most  delicate  finish. 

January  20.  I  passed  an  hour  this  forenoon  with  Prince  John,  in  looking  over 
the  apparatus  criticus  he  has  used  in  his  study  of  Dante.  It  was  less  complete 
than  I  expected  to  find  it,  but  more  curious.  I  made  a  good  many  memoranda, 
and  shall  turn  the  visit  to  good  account.  He  was,  I  thought,  free  in  showing  me 
everything,  conscientious  in  confessing  to  some  little  oversights  and  ignorances, 
and  glad  to  get  any  hints  that  will  be  useful  to  him  hereafter ;  but,  on  the  whole, 
it  is  quite  plain  his  study  of  Dante  has  been  most  thorough,  and  that  his  knowl- 
edge and  feeling  of  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  Inferno  and  Purgatorio  are  really 
extraordinary.  With  the  Paradiso  he  has  not  yet  made  a  beginning,  —  I  mean, 
with  its  translation. 

January  31.  This  evening  Prince  John  invited  four  of  us  —  Professor  Forster,* 
the  translator  of  Petrarca,  Dr.  Cams,  Count  Baudissin,  and  myself  —  to  hear 
Tieck  read  a  part  of  the  unpublished  translation  of  the  Purgatorio.  I  went 
punctually  at  six.  .  .  .  After  coffee  and  a  little  conversation,  we  all  sat  down  at 
a  table,  and  Tieck  read,  most  admirably,  five  cantos,  beginning  with  the  eight- 
eenth.! The  rest  of  us  looked  over  the  original  text,  and  at  the  end  of  each 
canto  observations  were  made  on  the  translation.  There  was  not,  however,  one 
word  of  compliment  offered,  or  the  smallest  flattery  insinuated.  On  the  contrary, 
errors  were  pointed  out  fairly  and  honestly;  and  once  or  twice,  where  there  was 
a  difference  of  opinion  between  the  Prince  and  Carus,  Carus  adhered,  even  with 
pertinacity,  to  his  own,  which,  in  one  case,  I  thought  was  wrong.     The  transla- 

*  Five  years  later,  in  1841,  Forster  published  his  translation  of  Dante's  Vita  Nuova. 
t  Tieck  had  the  reputation  of  being  at  that  time  the  best  reader  in  Germany. 


TICKNOR.  2 1 

Cambridge,  where  his  friends  were  equally  frank  in  expressing  their 
opinions  of  his  work.  These  are  two  delightful  instances  of  scholarly 
and  friendly  intercourse  into  which  small  bickerings  did  not  enter,  yet 
from  which  open  discussion  was  not  excluded.  A  memorandum  made 
by  Mr.  Ticknor  many  years  later  recalls  the  pleasure  of  those  winter 
evenings  in  Dresden  : 

The  little  meetings  at  Prince  John's  were,  I  believe,  sometimes  called 
the  "Accademia  Dantesca,"  and  extended  through  the  years  when  the 
Prince  was  making  his  translation.  I  went  to  only  two  or  three  of  them,  in 
the  winter  of  1835-36,  and  never  met  anybody  at  them  except  Tieck,  Carus, 
and  Karl  Forster,  though  I  believe  other  persons  were  occasionally  there, 
especially  the  M it-Regent,  afterwards  King  Frederic.  I  think  there  are 
notices  of  them  in  the  Life  of  Forster,  1 846,  where  I  am  kindly  remembered 
as  meeting  him  at  the  Prince's,  which  I  never  did  except  on  these  occa- 
sions. Forster  was  an  excellent  Italian  scholar,  and  translated,  as  early  as 
T807,  from  Dante.  So  was  Carus,  who  made  a  plan^  of  the  Divina  Corn- 
media^  of  which  he  gave  me  a  copy,  still  to  be  found  in  my  large  paper 
Landino.  Tieck  was  not  so  exact  in  his  Italian  as  they  were,  but  was  more 
genial  and  agreeable. 

In  a  letter  to  Prince  John,  Ticknor  speaks  of  Dante  as  a  "  mare 
magnum  for  adventure,"  and  adds  :  "  Every  time  I  read  him  I  make, 
or  I  think  I  make,  new  discoveries."  He  was  in  the  habit  of  jot- 
ting down  his  favorite  rendering  of  a  word  or  passage  on  the  margins 
of  a  copy  of  the  Venice  edition  of  181 1,  which  was  his  vade  mecum. 
"I  bought  it  in  Geneva  in  18 17,"  says  he  to  his  daughter  in  an 
unpublished  note  of  1853,  "and  from  that  time  have  made  my  chief 

tion,  however,  was  as  close  as  anything  of  the  sort  well  can  be,  and  in  general, 
I  have  no  doubt,  most  faithfully  accurate.  After  the  reading  was  over,  and 
refreshments  had  been  handed  around,  the  conversation  was  very  gay,  and  fell  at 
last  into  downright  story-telling  and  commerage. 

February  20.  I  was  engaged  this  evening  at  Tieck's,  but  we  were  both 
summoned  to  Prince  John's,  where,  to  the  same  party  that  was  there  before,  —  viz. 
Forster,  Carus,  and  Baudissin, — Tieck  read  five  more  cantos  of  the  Prince's 
translation  of  the  Purgatorio,  XXIV-XXIX.  Everything  went  on  just  as  it  did 
before,  and  was  equally  creditable  to  all  parties  concerned  in  it,  the  criticisms 
being  free,  full,  and  fair,  and  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  received  that  of  a 
person  really  disposed  to  profit  by  them. 

1  A  privately  printed  broadside,  in  possession  of  his  daughter,  Miss  Anna  E. 
Ticknor,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  many  courtesies. 


22  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

Studies  of  Dante  in  it,  taking  it  with  me  on  my  travels  in  Europe  then 
and  ...  in  1835-38.  Add  to  this  my  manuscript  notes  in  three 
quartos  and  you  will  have  pretty  much  all  I  know  about  Dante." 

The  notes  to  which  he  refers  were  in  the  main  the  skeleton  of  his 
lectures  and  class-room  work  at  Harvard ;  many  of  them  are  but 
expansions  of  the  marginal  notes  in  his  special  copy  of  the  poem. 
From  the  fly-leaves  of  the  three  manuscript  volumes  we  learn  that  the 
notes  on  the  Inferno  were  prepared  at  Blue  Hills,  July  and  August, 
1832  ;  those  on  cantos  i.-xxix.  of  the  Furgatorio  at  Rome,  January 
and  February,  1837  ;  while  the  remainder  of  the  work  was  done  at 
Wood's  Holl  in  July  and  August,  1840.  His  friend,  Count  Circourt, 
had  read  the  first  two  volumes,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  their  con- 
tents would  be  prepared  for  the  press  ;  but  the  publication  since  that 
day  of  the  early  comments  and  other  material  then  not  easy  of  access, 
from  which  Ticknor  drew,  has  made  it  needless.  The  notes  are  of 
interest  to  us  only  as  they  show  the  breadth  of  Ticknor's  scholarship. 
The  first  pages  are  concerned  with  such  introductory  topics  as  the 
political  state  of  Italy,  the  state  of  religious  power  and  opinion,  and 
of  poetry  and  language  in  the  time  of  Dante,  together  with  a  sketch 
of  his  life  in  which  he  questions  some  of  Boccaccio's  statements. 
Then  comes  a  brief  account  of  Dante's  works.  In  his  analysis  of  the 
Divina  Commedia  he  puts  the  question,  "What  kind  of  a  poem?"  and 
makes  answer  that  it  is  "  no  more  an  epic  than  a  comedy.  It  is  essen- 
tially historical.  [The]  glories  and  calamities  of  Italy,  its  parties, 
princes,  and  great  men  [are]  shown  in  the  strong  light  of  the  genius, 
indignation,  and  misfortunes,  the  passions,  prejudices,  and  sufferings 
of  one  extraordinary  man."  Ticknor  grasps  a  point  which  was  often 
misunderstood  in  his  day,  —  that  is,  Dante's  sense  of  justice.  It  is 
one  of  the  very  few  of  Dante's  personal  attributes  upon  which  he  has 
any  comment  whatsoever  to  make.  He  finds  proof  of  it  in  the  treat- 
ment of  Bocca  degli  Abati,  of  Beccaria,  and  of  Soldanier,  irrespective 
of  party,  and  remarks  that  in  each  case  "  it  was  the  treason  Dante 
hated";  he  also  notes  "a  singular  exhibition  of  it"  in  Dante's  put- 
ting Farinata  among  the  heretics  in  the  sixth  circle,  "for  though  a 
Ghibelline  and  a  saviour  of  his  country,  ...  he  took  away  from  the 
people  the  example  of  a  religious  chief."  Of  Dante's  minor  works, 
Ticknor  characterizes  the  Vita  Nuova  as  J'  mystical,"  the  De  Monar- 


WILDE. 


23 


chia  as  "  remarkable  for  its  clear  distinction  between  Church  and 
State,"  the  Setti  Salmi  Penitenziali 2lS  "monkish,"  and  finds  fault  with 
the  Convito  for  its  "bad  allegory." 


RICHARD  HENRY  WILDE. 

Another  American  who  devoted  considerable  time  to  the  study  of 
Dante,  with  a  view  to  publishing  what  he  never  lived  to  complete, 
was  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  of  Georgia,  who  spent  some  four  years  in 
Italy  in  the  study  of  Italian  history  and  literature.  Mr.  Wilde  was  a 
man  of  marked  strength  of  character  and  innate  refinement  of  feeling, 
and  as  he  had  had  no  academic  training  he  endeavored,  throughout 
a  busy  legal  and  political  life,  to  gain,  by  constant  application  to 
books,  what  he  had  missed  by  lacking  the  opportunities  of  instruction 
in  youth.  He  is  remembered  chiefly  for  his  lyric  "  My  Life  is  Like 
a  Summer  Rose,"  and  for  the  part  he  had  in  the  discovery  of  the 
Bargello  fresco  popularly  ascribed  to  Giotto.  Others  have  taken  to 
themselves  the  greater  share  of  the  honor  attaching  to  this  latter 
achievement.  He  has  claim  to  our  present  consideration  through 
his  unpublished  "  Life  and  Times  of  Dante "  and  "  The  Italian 
Lyric  Poets." 

He  was  not  a  native  of  America,  as  has  sometimes  been  stated, 
but  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1789,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1797, 
spending  his  boyhood  in  Baltimore.  On  the  death  of  his  father  the 
family  removed  to  Georgia,  and  the  young  man  took  to  the  study  of 
law  in  the  few  leisure  moments  left  him  by  an  exacting  clerkship. 
His  subsequent  career  at  the  bar  and  in  Congress  commands  our 
admiration.  The  success  with  which  he  met  enabled  him  to  seek 
retirement  in  Italy  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  and  he  sailed  for 
Europe  in  the  summer  of  1835.  On  his  return  he  published  in  1841 
his  work  on  Tasso,  which  was  well  received.  Though  he  accepted  a 
professorship  in  the  law  department  of  the  newly  established  Univer- 
sity of  Louisiana,  he  still  hoped  to  find  leisure  to  put  into  shape  for 
publication  his  "Life  and  Times  of    Dante,"  and  to  complete  the 


2'4  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

translations  for  "The  Italian  Lyric  Poets";  but  his  life  was  brought 
to  an  untimely  close  by  the  yellow-fever  epidemic  of  1847.' 

It  is  generally  understood  that  a  preface,  or  foreword,  should  be 
a  last  word  coming  from  the  author's  pen,  written  after  he  has  worked 
over  his  subject  from  beginning  to  end  and  is  best  able  to  define 
his  position  and  make  his  apology.  When  one  sits  down  to  write 
this  proem  before  his  book  is  half  finished,  it  is  pretty  safe  to  conjec- 
ture that  all  does  not  go  well  with  him  in  his  task.  Now,  Wilde  has 
left  interesting  prefaces  to  his  two  incomplete  volumes.  From  their 
tone  it  is  plainly  evident  that  their  author  had  serious  misgivings  as 
to  the  success  with  which  his  work  would  meet.  It  was  more  than 
modesty  that  forced  him  to  say  in  regard  to  his  experiments  in  trans- 
lation that  the  frequency  of  like  folly  and  the  strength  of  the  tempta- 
tion would  possibly  secure  for  his  effort  no  worse  a  fate  than  that 
which  had  attended  others,  —  pity  and  neglect.  In  1867,  his 
son,  William  Gumming  Wilde,  endeavored  to  secure  a  publisher 
for  the  Dante  volume,  and,  with  the  same  end  in  view,  added 
biographical  sketches  to  the  unfinished  portions  of  the  volume  of 
translations.  He  failed,  however,  to  find  any  one  who  would  risk 
the  expense  of  printing,  twenty-five  years  after  their  writing,  two  such 

1  Among  the  editorials  of  the  Southern  and  Western  Magazine  and  Review  for 
August,  1845,  ^o^'  "'  P-  ^44'  ^  short-lived  venture  of  William  Gilmore  Simms,  is 
found  this  notice  of  Wilde's  work  :  "  We  are  pleased  to  learn  that  the  life  of  Uante, 
by  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  of  New  Orleans,  is  in  rapid  preparation  for  the  press. 
Mr.  Wilde  has  had  this  work  in  hand  for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  He  has 
bestowed  the  utmost  pains  upon  it,  as  well  in  regard  to  the  acquisition  and 
analysis  of  his  material  as  in  careful  finish  of  his  style.  We  have  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  hearing  portions  of  the  work  read,  by  the  accomplished  writer  himself,  and 
we  feel  quite  safe  in  making  these  assurances.  Mr.  Wilde  has  enjoyed  many 
advantages  for  the  preparation  of  this  biography  —  has  spent  several  years  in 
Italy,  is  a  master  of  the  language,  and  has  been  an  industrious  explorer  among  its 
ancient  records.  He  has  been  fortunate  in  making  some  valuable  and  interesting 
discoveries.  A  new  portrait  of  Dante,  exhibiting  the  stern  and  gloomy  master, 
with  equal  felicity  and  truthfulness,  is,  we  believe,  due  entirely  to  the  persevering 
nature  of  his  researches.  We  look  anxiously  for  this  work  as  an  honorable 
addition  to  American  and  particularly  to  Southern  literature."  Simms  himself 
knew  Dante  and  translated  the  fifth  canto  of  the  Inferno  into  quite  creditable 
triple-rhymed  English  verse. 

Longfellow  makes  mention  of  Wilde  ("  with  his  white  floating  locks  ")  in  his 
journal  for  Oct.  2,  1845. 


WILDE.  2^ 

bulky  works,  left  in  an  unfinished  state  and  wanting  in  proportion. 
Instead  of  weighting  the  lyrics  with  long  lives  of  the  poets,  more 
suited  to  an  encyclopaedia  than  to  an  anthology,  the  translations, 
which  are  chiefly  of  sonnets,  ought  to  have  been  gone  over  carefully 
and  printed  separately.  Wilde  was  at  his  best  in  dealing  with  the 
sonnet  form;  with  the  canzone  he  did  not  succeed  so  well.  The 
following  is  a  most  satisfactory  translation  of  a  favorite  sonnet  from 
Dante's  Canzoniere  : 


GUIDO    VORREI    CHE   TU    E    LaPO    ED    lO. 

Guido,  I  would  that  Lapo,  thou,  and  I 

Were  by  some  kind  enchantment  borne  away 
In  a  brave  ship  that  o'er  the  sea  should  fly 

And,  spite  of  wind  and  tide,  our  will  obey  : 
So  that  ne'er  fickle  fortune  nor  foul  weather 

Should  interrupt  our  course  or  mar  our  peace, 
And  living  free  and  happily  together, 

The  wish  to  live  so  ever,  might  increase. 
Vanna  and  Beatrice  should  be  there 

With  her  who  o'er  the  thirty  reigns  supreme 
(That  too  should  be  the  good  enchanter's  care); 

And  love  should  be  our  everlasting  theme,  — 
As  much  contented  they  our  lot  to  share 

As  we  our  fate  to  blend  with  theirs,  I  deem. 

The  incompleteness  of  the  work  on  "The  Italian  Lyric  Poets" 
is  shown  by  the  unfinished  state  in  which  Wilde  left  the  portion 
devoted  to  Dante.  There  are  but  two  renderings  beyond  the  one 
just  given,  and  no  biographical  sketch.  In  another  portion  of  the 
manuscript  we  find  a  translation  of  Boccaccio's  difficult  sonnet, 
which  may  well  be  given  here. 

Dante  Alighieri  son,  Minerva  oscura. 

Dante  am  I,  the  oracle  obscure 

Of  wisdom  and  of  art  divinely  sung. 

Who  formed  the  accents  of  my  mother  tongue. 

To  eloquence  laconic,  bold,  and  pure. 


26  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

My  fancy  high,  prompt,  daring,  and  secure, 

.Passed  Tartarus,  and  up  to  Heaven  sprung, 

And  o'er  the  story  of  my  journey  flung 
A  beauty  destined  ever  to  endure. 
Florence  my  glorious  mother  was,  to  me 

More  like  a  step-dame,  though  her  loving  child,  — 
The  fault  of  civil  strife  and  calumny. 

Ravenna  gave  me  shelter  when  exiled, 
And  keeps  my  dust ;  my  soul  to  God  on  high 

Rose  from  its  earthly  prison  undefiled. 

The  "  Life  and  Times  of  Dante"  was  planned  to  consist  of  two  vol- 
umes, but  no  more  than  the  first  was  ever  written.  The  manuscript 
consists  of  about  eight  hundred  closely  written  quarto  sheets,  the  last 
of  which  is  dated  Oct.  lo,  1842.  As  it  stands,  it  deals  more  with 
the  times  in  which  Dante  lived  than  with  his  life.  A  score  of  appen- 
dices, to  which  references  are  made  throughout  the  volume,  are  lost 
or  were  never  written. 

Though  even  more  unsuited  for  publication  to-day  than  in  1867, 
the  work  is  of  interest  to  us  as  outlining  methods  of  research  quite 
common  in  America  half  a  century  ago,  and  in  helping  us  to  appre- 
ciate the  growth  of  American  scholarship  in  this  particular  field.  In 
order  to  get  Wilde's  own  account  of  what  he  endeavored  to  do,  I  print 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  preface  to  his  "Life  and  Times  of  Dante" : 

During  a  residence  of  some  years  in  Florence,  I  had  more  leisure  on 
my  hands  than  a  busy  life  ever  before  allowed  me.  Part  of  it  was  occupied 
with  the  study  of  Italian  literature.  As  an  exercise  in  translation  and  com- 
position I  wrote  the  "  Researches  and  Conjectures  on  the  Love  and  Mad- 
ness of  Tasso,"  and,  while  thus  engaged,  anxiously  endeavored  to  obtain 
access  to  the  Medicean  archives,  with  the  hope  of  finding  some  inedited 
letters,  of  his  own  and  others,  bearing  on  his  story.  The  desired  permis- 
sion was  not  obtained  soon  enough  for  my  purpose.  It  came  to  me  at 
length,  unexpectedly,  through  the  gracious  indulgence  of  His  Imperial  and 
Royal  Highness,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  the  courtesy  of  his 
ministers,  among  whom  I  am  especially  indebted  to  His  Excellency  Don 
Neri  de'  Principi  Corsini,  Secretary  of  State.  ...  I  was  then  engaged  in 
translating  specimens  of  the  Italian  lyric  poets,  and  composing  short  bio- 
graphical notices  of  each  author ;  and,  being  much  puzzled  with  the 
obscurities  and  contradictions  abounding  in  the  ordinary  lives  of  Dante, 


WILDE. 


^7 


it  occurred  to  me  to  seek  in  the  archives  thus  fortunately  opened  to  my 
curiosity  whatever  explanations  they  might  afford.    .    .    . 

My  first  step  was  the  study  of  an  alphabet  and  the  still  more  cramped 
and  crabbed  abbreviations  of  the  notaries  of  the  Signoria,  a  sort  of  official 
shorthand  which  constantly  varied,  as  each  officer  used  his  own.  ...  I 
threw  aside  everything  else  and  devoted  myself  assiduously  to  the  business 
of  collecting  and  extracting.    ... 

Confident  in  my  own  resources,  like  an  American  woodsman,  with  my 
axe  on  my  shoulder,  I  entered  the  forest.  Never,  most  assuredly,  since  I 
bivouacked  in  my  boyhood  amid  a  wilderness  lately  in  the  possession  of 
the  Indians,  beside  a  rousing  fire,  the  earth  for  my  bed,  the  sky  my  canopy, 
a  saddle  for  my  pillow,  and  a  blanket  to  cover  me,  —  never  since  then  did 
so  deep  a  sense  of  my  own  insignificance  and  the  enduring  solitude  of  ages 
come  over  me  as  in  my  first  visit  to  the  Florentine  archives.  Suites  of 
rooms  whose  large  size  and  immense  height  would  befit  a  royal  palace, 
crammed  with  books  and  folio  files  of  papers  from  top  to  bottom,  filled  me 
at  once  with  wonder  and  despair.  From  this  enormous  mine  the  history  of 
centuries  had  been  extracted,  and  yet,  like  mountain  quarries  out  of  which 
cities  have  arisen,  the  materials  were  not  missed,  the  mass  was  undi- 
minished.   .    .    . 

For  some  time,  like  a  child  in  a  blooming  meadow,  I  wearied  myself 
grasping  at  everything,  weeds  as  well  as  flowers,  entirely  unconscious  of 
their  respective  value,  until  my  hands  were  full  and  my  eyes  still  greedy. 
It  soon  became  clear,  however,  that  some  one  object  embracing  a  very 
limited  period  must  be  selected  or  my  efforts  would  be  merely  a  waste  of 
labor.  The  life  of  Dante  was  chosen,  and  as  materials  increased,  his 
times  were  added. 

Here  one  already  sees  the  mark  of  the  dilettante.  Wilde  never 
reached  the  point  of  trained  scholarship  and  discriminatijon  so  neces- 
sary to  the  investigator  and  historian.  He  had  a  great  fund  of  enthu- 
siasm, and,  as  Washington  Irving  said  of  him,  he  went  about  his  work 
with  all  the  "  patience  and  accuracy  of  a  case  hunter."  In  fact,  he 
shows  himself  the  advocate  by  the  eagerness  with  which  he  supports 
his  favorite  theories  in  the  case  of  certain  vexed  questions.  Not  that 
he  was  a  biased  investigator,  nor  that  he  was  unwilling  to  give  up  a 
cherished  tradition,  once  overthrown ;  but  until  disproved,  the  pleas- 
ing figments  of  time  had  for  him  the  usual  attraction  they  hold  alike 
for  the  poet  and  dilettante,  and  Wilde  was  somewhat  of  both.  But 
to  return  to  his  narrative. 


28  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

While  endeavoring  to  become  familiar  with  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
records,  I  employed  my  mornings  at  the  Riformagioni,  in  reading  the  general 
index  literally  through.  Many  references  stimulated  my  curiosity  and  were 
carefully  noted,  but  the  general  result  was  a  severe  trial  to  my  patience, 
ending  in  disappointment.  This  and  various  other  indices  I  found  were 
framed,  as  it  is  proper  they  should  be,  rather  for  the  present  administrative 
purposes  of  the  government  than  the  gratification  of  historical  or  antiqua- 
rian tastes.  Accordingly  they  are  most  diffuse  where  1  could  have  wished 
them  concise,  and  brief  where  the  greatest  minuteness  would  have  been 
acceptable.  My  first  experiments  of  this  sort  convinced  me  fully  that  if 
I  really  wished  to  explore  the  ground  faithfully,  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
examine  page  by  page  and  document  by  document  every  book  and  file  that 
related  to  my  epoch.  This  was  a  serious  task,  and  threatened  to  occupy 
me,  as  in  fact  it  did,  for  years.  Besides,  I  gradually  became  aware  how 
utterly  unqualified  1  was  for  my  pursuit.  Conversation  with  the  archivists 
and  with  various  other  persons  of  talent  and  education,  lovers  of  Dante, 
and  skilled  in  the  history  of  their  country,  who  were  patient  and  urbane 
enough  to  listen  to  my  crude  notions,  and  answer  all  my  vague  and  random 
questions,  soon  convinced  me  how  much  I  had  to  learn.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  I  should  inform  myself  as  far  as  possible  of  all  that  had 
already  been  published  or  written  in  relation  to  my  subject.  Unwilling 
wholly  to  forego  an  examination  of  the  archives,  lest  accident  should  close 
them  on  me  forever,  yet  sensible  that  there  were  many  books  to  be  read,, 
and  in  the  public  libraries  many  manuscripts  to  be  consulted,  before  1  could 
tell  what  had  been  already  found,  what  was  still  to  seek,  and  what  had  often 
been  sought  in  vain,  I  resolved  to  make  a  threefold  distribution  of  my 
time.  Two  or  three  hours  of  the  morning,  usually  from  nine  to  twelve,  were 
given  to  the  Riformagioni.  As  soon  as  my  eyes  became  weary  with  the 
crabbed  and  sometimes  faded  characters  of  ancient  parchments,  I  betook 
myself  to  the  Magliabecchiana  and  remained  until  two,  reading  manuscripts 
in  a  more  modern  hand.  My  afternoons  and  evenings  were  devoted  to  the 
Commedia  and  other  works  of  Dante,  to  Compagni,  Villani,  Malispini^ 
Boccaccio,  Benvenuto  da  Imola,  Muratori,  Ammirato,  Tiraboschi,  Andres,. 
Lami,  Pelli,  Arrivabene,  and  a  hundred  others,  many  of  whose  works  I 
read  again  and  again,  and  of  some  made  a  constant  and  profound  study. 

.  .  .  Had  I  begun  with  a  full  understanding  of  the  achievements  of  my 
learned  predecessors,  assuredly  I  should  have  gone  no  farther.  How  often 
afterward,  in  studying  the  many  and  huge-tomed  Spogli  and  Zibaldoni  of 
Ferdinando  Migliore,  Cosimo  della  Rena,  Senator  Carlo  di  Tommaso 
Strozzi,    Gammurini,    the    anonymous    volumes    erroneously   attributed    to 


WILDE.  29 

Borghini,  and  various  similar  collections,  has  the  cold  and  bitter  feeling  of 
despondency  overcome  me,  with  the  self-interrogation  :  What  after  all  this 
can  I  hope  to  effect?  Here  are  men  who  lived  and  died  in  the  process  of 
investigating  and  extracting,  and  after  amassing  this  immense  quantity  of 
material  have  finished  comparatively  little.  My  ignorance  thus  again  stood 
my  friend,  until  I  waded  so  far  into  my  undertaking  that  to  desist  would 
have  been  more  vexatious  than  to  proceed,  and  I  went  on  with  dogged 
obstinacy,  borrowing  courage  from  despair.    .    .    . 

I  examined  everything  belonging  to.  my  era  in  the  archives,  line  by  Hne. 
Hence  the  fortunate  discovery  of  a  record  establishing  Dante's  services  as 
one  of  the  secret  council,  and  his  votes  against  furnishing  troops  to  Boni- 
face VIII,  which,  strange  and  almost  incredible  to  say,  had  escaped  all  my 
predecessors.  Hence  various  other  discoveries  enabling  me,  as  I  hope,  to 
arrange  and  elucidate  the  order  of  events  during  a  short,  but  most  perplexed, 
period  of  Florentine  history,  whose  confusion  all  had  admitted  and  despaired 
of  correcting.  Hence  a  vindication  in  many  points  of  the  old  biographers 
and  commentators,  most  unjustly  censured.  Hence  the  identification  of  one 
of  the  young  men  poisoned  during  the  faction  of  1300,  —  Pigello  Portinari,  as 
a  brother  of  Beatrice  and  a  friend  of  Dante.  .  .  .  Hence  the  satisfactory 
solution  of  that  hitherto  unsettled  question,  —  the  poet's  Roman  virtue  in 
recommending  the  banishment  of  his  best  friend,  Guido  Cavalcanti,  and  the 
full  conviction  of  his  own  innocence,  and  the  iniquity  of  the  sentence 
passed  upon  him  by  his  enemies.    .    .    . 

The  systematic  searching  which  has  been  going  on  during  recent 
years  has  brought  to  light  all  that  Wilde  was  able  to  turn  up,  and  a 
great  deal  more.  The  indefatigable  Del  Lungo  has  it  nearly  all  in 
his  masterpiece  of  scholarly  editing  and  annotation,  ''  La  Cronica  di 
Dino  Compagni."  Wilde,  however,  came  to  some  novel  conclusions 
in  regard  to  the  Pigello  Portinari  mentioned  by  Villani,  and  I  give 
them  here  for  what  they  may  be  worth.  Wilde  has  just  been  discuss- 
ing the  poisoning,  at  the  hands  of  Ser  Neri  degli  Abati,  of  some  of 
the  young  men  imprisoned  in  default  of  the  fines  imposed  upon  them 
for  taking  part  in  the  faction  fight  at  Remole.  Ser  Neri  was  one  of 
the  keepers  of  the  Paliazze,  the  prison  of  the  nobles. 

Among  the  innocent  victims  of  Ser  Neri  degli  Abati's  base  and  murderous 
treason  was  one  of  the  family  of  Portinari.  Giovanni  Villani  identifies  him 
by  his  Christian  name,  but  no  one  has  yet  remarked,  or  at  least  no  one  has 
yet  proved,  that  this  Pigello  de'  Portinari  was  certainly,  or  almost  certainly, 


30  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

a  brother  of  Dante's  Beatrice,  and  possibly,  the  very  brother  who  was  the 
poet's  intimate  friend.  .  .  . 

Folco  de  Portinari,  the  father  of  Beatrice,  was  the  founder  of  the  cele- 
brated hospital  of  Santa  Maria  Nuova,  in  Florence,  and  his  will  has  been 
preserved.  Besides  his  daughter  and  other  children,  he  mentions  in  it  his 
sons  Pigello,  Gherardo,  and  Jacobo,  at  that  time  (1287)  all  minors.  Of 
these  Pigello  was  no  doubt  the  eldest,  as  they  would  naturally  be  named  in 
the  order  of  seniority ;  but  without  some  more  definite  evidence  of  his  age 
it  must  always  remain  uncertain  whether  he  was  not  too  young  in  1298. to 
take  part  in  these  unhappy  factions.  This  proof  has  been  anxiously  sought 
for  and  at  length  found.  In  1294  a  resolution  of  the  Priori  subrogated  to 
Pigello  di  Folco  Portinari  and  others  all  the  rights  of  the  Comune  against 
Dino  Ubertini,  for  whom  they  became  security,  and  on  account  of  which  a 
sentence  was  rendered  on  the  seventh  of  the  previous  December.  Before 
December,  1294,  therefore,  Pigello  was  of  age;  and  his  identity  is  fully 
established  by  his  being  called  Pigello  di  Folco,  —  that  is  to  say,  according 
to  the  Florentine  usage,  "  the  son  of  Folco."  Even  the  ambiguity  that  would 
arise  upon  the  gratuitous  supposition  that  there  might  be  another  Folco  de' 
Portinari  at  the  time  is  removed  by  the  word  "  quondam,"  showing  that  the 
deceased  Folco  was  intended.  To  suppose  two  Folchi,  both  deceased  and 
both  leaving  sons  called  Pigello,  at  the  same  epoch,  is  an  outrage  on  all 
probability  which  receives  no  countenance  from  the  records  of  the  time.  In 
none  of  these  has  any  other  Folco  or  Pigello  been  observed,  though  both 
names  were  afterwards  continued  in  the  family.  The  latter,  indeed,  is  by 
no  means  a  common  baptismal  appellation,  and  has  been  remarked  only 
once  besides,  in  the  person  of  Pigello  de'  Cerchi,  whose  house  was  doubtless 
allied  to  the  Portinari  by  marriage.  The  Canonico  Cavaliere  Folco  Antonio 
Maria  de'  Portinari,  therefore,  who  compiled  the  memoirs  of  his  family,  .  .  , 
though  he  enters  into  no  critical  examination  of  the  facts,  adopts  without 
hesitation  the  Pigello  de'  Portinari  spoken  of  by  Giovanni  Villani  as  the  son 
of  Folco  mentioned  in  his  will. 

There  are  many  other  passages  in  this  work  which  are  well  worth 
printing,  but  they  are  mostly  concerned  with  the  times  leading  up  to 
Dante,  and  with  matter  introductory  to  a  consideration  of  the  poet 
himself.  The  scope  of  the  present  sketch  does  not  permit  of  the 
fuller  presentation  of  material  from  these  interesting  manuscripts. 
Before  leaving  Wilde,  however,  we  must  review  the  part  he  had  in 
the  discovery  in  1840  of  the  portrait  of  Dante,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made.  • 


WILDE. 


31 


As  there  has  been  so  much  discussion  concerning  the  division  of 
the  credit  attaching  to  the  discovery  of  the  Giotto  fresco,  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  we  do  not  have  Wilde's  own  account  of  the  movement 
which  we  have  all  reason  to  believe  was  set  on  foot  by  him.  All  that 
he  says  of  the  matter  in  the  body  of  his  work  is  that  "  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  recovery  of  the  fresco,  which  have  been  differ- 
ently related,  according  to  the  self-love  of  every  narrator,  are  thought 
worthy  of  preservation  as  matters  of  history,  and  have  therefore  been 
embodied  in  the  appendix."  Though  the  latter  is  unhappily  lost,  we 
have  a  disinterested  account  of  the  undertaking  by  Washington  Irving, 
who  wrote  of  the  discovery  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine  for  October, 
1 84 1.  The  details  of  his  narrative  are  corroborated,  as  far  as  they 
go,  by  the  letter  from  Signer  Bezzi,  to  which  we  shall  come  shortly. 

It  was  during  the  time  he  was  devoting  himself  to  Tasso,  says 
Irving,  that  Wilde  first  heard  of  the  probable  existence  of  the  Giotto 
fresco.  His  informer  was  Carlo  Liverati,  a  Florentine  artist  of  some 
merit,  who  spoke  with  regret  of  the  almost  utter  hopelessness  of  its 
recovery.  Wilde  thought  little  of  the  matter  at  the  time,  but  a  few 
years  later,  when  engaged  in  the  study  of  Dante,  it  was  again  brought  to 
his  attention,  and  this  time  aroused  his  deepest  interest.  In  reading 
Domenico  Moreni's  notes  on  Filelfo's  "Vita  Dantis,"  he  found  men- 
tion of  the  Giotto  fresco,  and  he  also  learned  that,  some  years  pre- 
viously, Luigi  Scotti,  keeper  of  the  drawings  in  the  royal  galleries  at 
Florence,  had  made  "  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  set  on  foot  a  project 
for  the  recovery  of  the  lost  treasure."  ^  "  Here,"  continues  Irving, 
"was  a  new  vein  of  inquiry,  which  Wilde  followed  up  with  his  usual 
energy  and  sagacity."  The  remainder  is  best  told  in  Irving's  own 
words  : 

For  a  moment  he  felt  an  impulse  to  undertake  the  enterprise ;  but  feared 
that,  in  a  foreigner  from  a  new  world,  any  part  of  which  is  unrepresented 
at  the  Tuscan  court,  it  might  appear  like  an  intrusion.     He  soon,  however, 

1  Moreni's  note  is  as  follows :  "  II  nostro  pittore  Sig.  Luigi  Scotti  ha  veduta,  ed 
esaminata  essa  Cappella,  e  avendovi  scorta  qualche  traccia  indubitata  di  pittura, 
egli  stesso  coUa  sua  gia  nota  pazienza  non  sarebbe  alieno,  qualora  gli  fosse 
ordinate,  di  far  risorgere  essa  pittura,  e  con  essa  il  Ritratto  del  nostro  immortal 
Poeta,  di  cui  al  certo  non  avremmo  il  piu  antico  ne  il  piu  simigliante." —  Vita 
Dantis,  Florentiae,  1828,  pp.  123,  124. 


33 


DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 


found  a  zealous  coadjutor.  This  was  one  Giovanni  Aubrey  Bezzi,  a  Pied- 
montese  exile,  who  had  long  been  a  resident  in  England,  and  was  familiar 
with  its  language  and  literature.  .  .  .  Signor  Bezzi  partook  deeply  of  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  countrymen  for  the  memory  of  Dante,  and  sympathized 
with  Mr.  Wilde  in  his  eagerness  to  retrieve,  if  possible,  the  lost  portrait. 
They  had  several  consultations  as  to  the  means  to  be  adopted  to  effect  their 
purpose,  without  incurring  the  charge  of  undue  officiousness.  To  lessen  any 
objections  that  might  occur,  they  resolved  to  ask  for  nothing  but  permission 
to  search  for  the  fresco  painting  at  their  own  expense ;  and  should  any 
remains  of  it  be  found,  then  to  propose  to  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Plorence 
an  association  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  undertaking,  and  effectu- 
ally recovering  the  lost  portrait. 

For  the  same  reason,  the  formal  memorial  addressed  to  the  Grand  Duke 
was  drawn  up  in  the  name  of  the  Florentines,  among  whom  were  the  cele- 
brated Bartolini,  President  of  the  School  of  Sculpture  in  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Academy,  Signor  Paolo  Ferroni,  of  the  noble  family  of  that  name, 
who  has  exhibited  considerable  talent  for  painting,  and  Signor  Gasparini, 
also  an  artist.  This  petition  was  urged  and  supported  with  indefatigable 
zeal  by  Signor  Bezzi ;  and  being  warmly  countenanced  by  Count  Nerli,  and 
other  functionaries,  met  with  more  prompt  success  than  had  been  antici- 
pated. Signor  Marini,  a  skilful  artist,  who  had  succeeded  in  similar  opera- 
tions, was  employed  to  remove  the  whitewash  by  a  process  of  his  own,  by 
which  any  fresco  painting  that  might  exist  beneath  it  would  be  protected 
from  injury.  He  set  to  work  patiently  and  cautiously.  In  a  short  time  he 
met  with  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  fresco.  From  under  the  coat  of 
whitewash  the  head  of  an  angel  gradually  made  its  appearance,  and  was 
pronounced  to  be  by  the  pencil  of  Giotto. 

The  enterprise  was  now  prosecuted  with  increased  ardor.  Several  months 
were  expended  on  the  task,  and  three  sides  of  the  chapel  wall  were  uncovered  ; 
they  were  all  painted  in  fresco  by  Giotto  with  the  history  of  the  Magdalene, 
exhibiting  her  conversion,  her  penance,  and  her  beatification.  ^  The  figures, 
however,  were  all  those  of  saints  and  angels :  no  historical  portraits  had  yet 
been  discovered,  and  doubts  began  to  be  entertained  whether  there  were  any. 
Still  the  recovery  of  an  indisputable  work  of  Giotto's  was  considered  an 
ample  reward  for  any  toil ;  and  the  Ministers  of  the  Grand  Duke,  acting 
under  his  directions,  assumed  on  his  behalf  the  past  charges  and  future 
management  of  the  enterprise. 

1  Only  a  portion  of  the  fresco  is  devoted  to  this  theme  ;  that  in  which  Dante's 
portrait  occurs  is  a  Gloria  and  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  "  Paradise. "  There  has 
been  much  discussion  as  to  what  part  Giotto  had  in  its  painting. 


WILDE. 


iZ 


At  length,  on  the  uncovering  of  the  fourth  wall,  the  undertaking  was 
crowned  with  complete  success.  A  number  of  historical  figures  were  brought 
to  light,  and  among  them  the  undoubted  hkeness  of  Dante.  .  .  . 

It  is  not  easy  to  appreciate  the  delight  of  Mr.  Wilde  and  his  coadjutors 
at  this  triumphant  result  of  their  researches ;  nor  the  sensation  produced, 
not  merely  in  Florence,  but  throughout  Italy  by  this  discovery  of  a  veritable 
portrait  of  Dante,  in  the  prime  of  his  days.  It  was  some  such  sensation  as 
would  be  produced  in  England  by  the  sudden  discovery  of  a  perfectly  well- 
authenticated  likeness  of  Shakspeare,  with  a  difference  in  intensity  propor- 
tioned to  the  superior  sensitiveness  of  the  Italians.^ 

It  were  useless  to  go  all  over  the  ground  of  the  scattered  discussion 
which  took  place  between  1840  and  1850,  as  to  who  was  the  prime 
mover  in  the  undertaking  in  question.^  Signer  Bezzi  and  "Baron" 
Kirkup  looked  after  the  details  of  uncovering  the  fresco,  and  later  on, 
Kirkup,  in  the  absence  of  both  Bezzi  and  Wilde,  took  to  himself  the 
credit  for  everything.  Kirkup  unquestionably  deserves  to  be  remem- 
bered with  gratitude  for  having  given  us  his  invaluable  water-color 
sketch  of  the  Dante  portrait  before  it  suffered  from  "  restoration,"  but 
his  attempt  to  deprive  his  associates  of  their  just  share  of  the  honor 
attaching  to  the  discovery  was  most  niggardly.^     On  some   of  the 

1  "The  enthusiasm  of  the  Florentines  on  the  announcement  of  the  discovery 
resembled  that  of  their  ancestors  when  Borgo  AUegri  received  its  name  from  the 
rejoicings  in  sympathy  with  Cimabue.  'L'abbiamo,  il  nostra  poeta!'  was  the 
universal  cry,  and  for  days  afterwards  the  Bargello  was  thronged  with  a  continuous 
succession  of  pilgrim  visitors." — Lord  Lindsay,  Christian  Art,  2d  ed.,  London, 
1886,  vol.  ii,  p.  II. 

2  The  chief  documents  in  the  case,  so  far  as  I  know  them,  are  as  follows  :  Eugenio 
Latilla's  unsigned  article  in  the  Athenceum,  Dec.  25,  1847,  PP-  1328,  1329,  and 
a  further  note  in  the  issue  for  May  6,  1848,  p.  467,  in  answer  to  the  statement  of 
Bezzi's  case  in  the  issue  for  Feb.  5,  1848,  p.  146;  Kirkup's  letter  in  the  Spectator, 
May  II,  1850,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  452,  answered  by  Bezzi  in  the  issue  for  May  25,  1850, 
vol.  xxiii,  pp.  493,  494,  reprinted  in  the  International  Monthly  Magazine  (N.  Y.), 
July,  1850,  vol.  i,  pp.  2-4.  For  Rudolf  Lehman's  recently  asserted  and  very  amus- 
ing claim  to  the  discovery,  see  Leader  Scott's  letter  in  the  Athemriim,  Mar.  30, 
1895,  pp.  414.415- 

3  An  interesting  personage  in  his  way,  he  was  for  nearly  half  a  century  a  promi- 
nent figure  in  the  English  colony  at  Florence.  Miss  Wilde  writes  me  that  she  has 
often  heard  "  Baron  "  Kirkup  described  by  her  father  as  "  a  clever  but  rather 
unscrupulous  man,  artistic  and  literary,  but  shallowly  so."  The  Hawthornes 
have  left  accounts  of  him  in  their  journals  for  August,  1858. 


34  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

engravings  which  he  caused  to  be  made  of  his  sketch,  he  styled  him- 
self the  first  promoter  of  the  discovery,  and  on  others  the  discoverer 
of  the  portrait.  In  his  garbled  account,  Kirkup  spoke  of  Bezzi's 
work  as  "  fruitless,"  though  he  granted  that  the  latter  had  undertaken 
all  the  labors  of  the  petition.  He  claimed  that  it  was  himself  who  told 
Bezzi  of  the  existence  of  the  fresco,  and  that  Bezzi  voluntarily  united 
with  him  for  the  necessary  expenses  and  steps  to  recover  it.  "  The 
day  after,"  says  Kirkup,  "he  came  to  propose  the  junction  of  another 
person  of  my  acquaintance  for  this  object.  This  was  Mr.  Wilde,  an 
American,  whom  I  accepted  with  pleasure  as  our  associate  in  the 
affair."  This  is  the  only  mention  he  makes  of  Wilde.  Bezzi  tells 
quite  a  different  story.     Witness  the  following  : 

It  was  Mr.  Wilde  and  not  Mr,  Kirkup  who  first  spoke  to  me  of  this 
buried  treasure.  Mr.  Wilde,  an  American  gentleman  respected  by  all  that 
knew  him,  was  then  in  Florence,  engaged  in  a  work  on  Dante  and  his 
times,  which  unfortunately  he  did  not  live  to  complete.  Among  the 
materials  he  had  collected  for  this  purpose  there  were  some  papers  of  the 
antiquarian  Moreni,  which  he  was  examining  when  I  called  one  day  (I  had 
then  been  three  or  four  months  in  Florence)  to  read  what  he  had  already 
written,  as  I  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  from  time  to  time.  It  was  then 
that  a  footnote  of  Moreni's  met  his  eye,  in  which  the  writer  lamented  that 
he  had  spent  two  years  of  his  life  in  unceasing  and  unavailing  efforts  to 
recover  the  portrait  of  Dante,  and  the  other  portions  of  the  fresco  of 
Giotto  in  the  Bargello,  mentioned  by  Vasari ;  that  others  before  him  had 
been  equally  anxious  and  equally  unsuccessful;  and  that  he  hoped  that 
better  times  would  come  {yerranno  tempi  migliori),  and  that  the  painting, 
so  interesting  both  in  an  artistic  and  historical  point  of  view,  would  be 
again  sought  for,  and  at  last  recovered.  I  did  not  then  understand  how 
the  efforts  of  Moreni  and  others  could  have  been  thus  unsuccessful  ;  and 
I  thought  that  with  common  energy  and  diligence  they  might  have  ascer- 
tained whether  the  painting,  so  clearly  pointed  out  by  Vasari,  was  or  was 
not  in  existence;  several  months,  however,  of  wearisome  labors  in  the  same 
pursuit  taught  me  to  judge  more  leniently  of  the  failures  of  my  predeces- 
sors. Mr.  Wilde  put  Moreni's  note  before  me,  and  suggested  and  urged, 
that  being  an  Itahan  by  birth,  though  not  a  Florentine,  and  having  lived 
many  years  in  England  and  among  the  English,  I  had  it  in  my  power  to 
bring  two  modes  of  influence  to  bear  upon  the  research  ;  and  that  such 
being  the  case  I  ought  to  undertake  it.  My  thoughts  immediately  turned 
to  Mr.    Kirkup,  an  artist  who  had  abandoned  his   art  to  devote  himself 


WILDE.  35 

entirely  to  antiquarian  pursuits,  with  whom  I  was  well  acquainted,  and  who, 
having  lived  many  years  in  Florence  (I  believe,  fifteen),  would  weigh  the 
value  of  Moreni's  testimony  on  this  matter,  and  effectually  assist  me  in 
every  way  if  I  took  it  in  hand.  So  I  called  upon  him,  either  the  same  day 
or  the  next ;  and  I  found  that  he,  like  most  other  people,  had  read  the 
passage  in  Vasari's  life  of  Giotto,  in  which  it  is  explicitly  said  that  the 
portrait  of  Dante  had  been  painted  with  others  in  the  Palazzo  del  Podestk, 
and  was  to  be  seen  at  the  time  the  historian  was  writing;  but  that  he  had 
not  read  or  had  not  put  any  confidence  in  the  note  of  the  Florence  edition 
of  Vasari  published  in  1832-38,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  Palazzo  del 
Podesta  had  now  become  a  prison  —  the  Bargello;  that  the  chapel  had 
been  turned  into  a  dispensa  (it  was  more  like  a  coal-hole  where  the  rags 
and  much  of  the  filth  of  the  prison  was  deposited);  that  the  walls  of  this 
dispensa  exhibited  nothing  but  a  dirty  coating,  and  that  Moreni  speaks  of 
the  painting  in  some  published  work. 

Mr.  Kirkup,  however  ignorant,  or  culpably  negligent,  or  a  little  of  both, 
he  might  previously  have  been  on  the  subject,  yet  when  I  brought  it  before 
him,  he  at  once  admitted  its  importance  and  made  a  liberal  offer  of  money, 
if  any  should  be  needed,  to  carry  out  the  experiment.  Thus  encouraged 
by  Mr.  Wilde  and  Mr.  Kirkup,  I  sought  out  and  found  among  English, 
American,  and  Italian  friends  and  acquaintances  many  that  were  ready  to 
assist  the  plan.  Then  it  was  that  I  drew  up  a  memorial  to  the  Grand 
Duke;  not  because  I  am  an  "advocate,"  as  your  correspondent  [Mr. 
Kirkup]  is  pleased  to  call  me,  for  that  is  not  the  case,  but  simply  because, 
having  taken  pains  to  organize  the  means  of  working  out  the  common 
object,  the  cooperators  thought  I  could  best  represent  what  this  common 
object  was.  .  .  .  The  answer  was  favorable,  and  I  was  referred  to  Mar- 
chese  Nerli,  and  to  the  Director  of  the  Academy  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements. 

If  these  accounts  by  Irving  and  Bezzi  do  nothing  else,  they  assur- 
edly make  invalid  the  too  common  statement  that  the  fresco  was  dis- 
covered by  Kirkup.  Bezzi  v^ras  given  credit  for  his  management  of 
the  affair  by  Mrs.  Jameson,  by  Eastlake  in  his  notes  to  "  Kugler's 
Handbook  of  Painting,"  and  by  Landor  in  a  letter  to  the  London 
Examiner^  Aug.  16,  1840.  Wilde's  part  in  the  undertaking  has 
been  largely  lost  sight  of.  Grovi'e  and  Gavalacaselle  speak  of  "  the 
willingness  of  an  intelligent  American,  Mr.  Henry  Wild"  \jic\  to 
assist  in  getting  the  permission  of  the  government  authorities  ;  but 
most  writers,  including  Alessandro  D'Ancona,  Lord  Lindsay,  F.  G. 


36  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

Stephens,  H.  Quilter,  and  the  makers  of  many  of  the  encyclopaedias 
of  art  and  of  biography,  in  referring  to  the  discovery,  make  no 
mention  of  Wilde,  even  as  a  party  to  the  undertaking.  Yet,  as  Bezzi 
said  in  a  letter  printed  in  the  Athenceu?n,  Feb.  5,  1848,  "it  was 
originally  and  principally  at  the  suggestion  and  by  the  encourage- 
ment of  Mr.  Wilde  "  that  he  endeavored  to  secure  permission  from 
the  government,  and  cooperation  among  interested  individuals. 
Though  it  seems  impossible  to-day  to  determine  exactly  how  much 
each  of  the  three  had  to  do  with  the  affair  in  its  inception,  yet  the 
statements  here  brought  together  certainly  call  for  a  more  equal 
distribution  of  the  honor  attaching  to  the  discovery. 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW. 

Although  the  early  American  students  of  Dante  were  not  without 
their  influence  in  creating  a  local  and  limited  interest  in  their  author, 
yet  they  left  but  little  lasting  incitement  to  the  study  of  him.  They 
did  not  succeed  in  bringing  Dante  before  the  American  reading  pub- 
lic, or  in  giving  him  the  audience  he  merited.  To  Longellow  this 
honor  chiefly  belongs.  No  one  in  America  has  done  so  much  in  the 
service  of  this  master.  The  homage  paid  by  the  first  of  our  poets  to 
Italy's  chiefest  singer  of  rhymes  is  a  significant  bond  of  union. 

Longfellow's  interest  in  modern  languages  and  literature  began 
with  his  student  days  at  Bowdoin  College.  In  one  of  his  letters  to 
his  father  he  speaks  of  his  intention  to  understand  French  pretty 
thoroughly  before  leaving  Bowdoin,  and  looks  forward  to  spending  a 
year  at  Harvard  in  the  study  o£  history  and  polite  literature,  hoping 
at  the  same  time  to  study  Italian,  without  which  he  felt  that  he  would 
"be  shut  out  from  one  of  the  most  beautiful  departments  of  letters." 
After  graduation,  instead  of  going  to  Cambridge,  he  went  abroad  to 
prepare  himself  for  a  professorship  in  his  alma  mater.  During  the 
period  of  his  foreign  study  it  was  the  modern  languages  which 
absorbed  his  attention,^  and  his  first  publications,  on  entering  upon 

^  Longfellow  took  his  first  Italian  lessons  in  Paris  in  1826  from  De'  Ferranti, 
"guitarist  to  his  majesty,  the  Roi  des  Beiges.''^     (Journal,  Oct.  31,  1846.) 


LONGFELLOW. 


37 


his  duties  at  Bowdoin,  were  connected  with  his  class-room  work  in 
French,  Spanish,  and  ItaHan. 

Longfellow  early  took  to  the  translating  as  well  as  the  writing  of 
poetry.  Diffident  at  the  start  as  to  the  publication  of  verse  of  his 
own  composing,  he  felt  surer  of  his  work  when  the  expression  alone 
was  his  and  the  thought  itself  belonged  to  some  poet  of  a  foreign 
tongue.  Yet  he  did  not  worship  his  exotic  author  with  such  a  reli- 
gious zeal  as  to  attempt  to  transfer  his  very  word  and  phrase.  He 
had  found  where  the  difficulties  of  translating  lay,  and  he  sought  to 
give  the  effect  of  the  original  by  a  free  handling  of  his  material.  In 
the  preface  to  his  translation  of  the  "Coplas"  of  Don  Jorge  Manrique, 
published  in  1833,  he  compared  the  art  of  the  translator  to  that  of 
the  sculptor,  who,  unable  to  represent  in  the  cold  marble  the  living 
beauty  of  the  human  eye,  has  recourse  to  such  devices  as  sinking  the 
eye  deeper  and  making  the  brow  above  it  more  prominent  than  it  is 
in  the  living  model,  thus  gaining  more  of  the  effect  of  the  original 
than  he  could  have  done  by  an  exact  copy.  So  with  the  translator, 
said  the  young  Longfellow  :  "  As  there  are  certain  beauties  of  thought 
and  expression  in  a  good  original  which  cannot  be  represented  in  the 
less  flexible  material  of  another  language,  he,  too,  at  times  may  be 
permitted  to  transgress  the  rigid  truth  of  language,  and  remedy  the 
defect,  as  far  as  such  defect  can  be  remedied,  by  slight  and  judicious 
embellishments."  Therefore  he  felt  justified  in  occasionally  making 
use  of  "an  additional  epithet  or  a  more  forcible  turn  of  expression." 
This  was  where  the  young  translator  erred.  His  verse  was  graceful, 
his  rhythm  true,  but  he  often  fell  short  of  the  simplicity  of  his  origi- 
nal through  the  liberties  he  allowed  himself.  Such  a  straightforward 
and  unaffected  epitome  of  life  as 

Partimos  quando  nascemos, 

Andamos  mientras  vivimos, 

Y  allegamos 

Al  tiempo,  que  fenescemos  ; 

Asi  que  quando  morimos, 

Descansamos. 

becomes  modernized  by  him  into  the  pretty  but  sentimental  lines  : 

Our  cradle  is  the  starting-place, 
In  life  we  run  the  onward  race. 


38  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

And  reach  the  goal, 
When  in  the  mansions  of  the  blest 
Death  leaves  to  its  eternal  rest 

The  weary  soul. 

Fortunately  he  did  not  long  indulge  himself  in  this  license.  We 
shall  see  how,  later  in  life,  his  views  concerning  the  ethics  of  the 
translator's  art  were  radically  changed.  His  "Voices  of  the  Night," 
published  but  six  years  after  the  above,  contain  three  fragments  from 
the  Purgatorio^  which  evince  more  than  the  beginning  of  the  change. 
With  a  certain  justice  he  always  allowed  himself  greater  freedom  in 
translating  from  the  lyric  poets  than  from  Dante,  but  the  excuse  for 
this  is  apparent. 

As  the  successor  of  Professor  Ticknor  at  Harvard  College,  it  fell 
to  Longfellow's  lot  to  lecture  on  Dante,  among  other  topics.  Long- 
fellow made  Dante  far  more  of  a  literary  study  for  the  pupils  than  his 
predecessor  had  done.  He  left  the  linguistic  work>  to  the  competent 
instructor  Bachi,  who  drilled  the  young  men  in  the  rudiments  of 
Italian  and  read  with  them  many  of  the  best  writers.  "  Before  the 
college  course  was  over,"  says  the  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  one  of 
his  students,  "  Longfellow  read,  nominally  as  lectures,  the  whole  of 
Dante  with  us,  and  we  were  well  prepared  for  this  by  what  we  had 
read  with  Bachi."  ^ 

"  I  was  so  fortunate,"  wrote  Mr.  Hale  to  the  editor  of  the  Christian 
Union  in  1881,  "as  to  be  in  the  first  section  which  Mr.  Longfellow 

1  In  a  letter  of  recent  date,  Mr.  Hale  writes  me  as  follows  :  *'  Do  not  let  your 
notice  of  Dante  in  Cambridge  pass  without  fitting  reference  to  Pietro  Bachi,  who 
was  the  Italian  teacher  from  1826  to  1846.  Bachi  was  a  well-educated  Italian 
gentleman,  who  came  over  here,  —  I  know  not  why,  for  I  always  thought  he  must 
have  been  wretched  here.  But  everybody  liked  him,  not  to  say  loved  him.  It 
was  understood  amongst  us  youngsters  that  he  had  married  a  wife  who  was  in  some 
sort  inferior  to  him  in  social  position.  I  do  not  know  how  this  was,  but  I  do  know 
that  he  never  seemed  to  visit  freely  in  general  society,  as,  for  instance,  Bokum  did, 
who  was  the  German  teacher.  What  I  do  know  is  that  we  all  had  a  great  regard 
for  him,  and  that  his  work  in  the  Italian  department  was  excellent.  As  a  critic  of 
Dante,  he  had  exactly  the  gift  which  a  good  teacher  ought  to  have  in  interesting 
wide-awake  young  men  in  this  study.  And  I  can  say  to  you  that  when  we  came 
to  hear  Longfellow  lecture,  we  were  more  than  prepared  for  his  lectures  by  the 
very  thorough  work  which  Bachi  had  done  in  this  same  subject  with  us." 


LONGFELLOW.  3g 

instructed  personally  when  he  came  to  Cambridge  in  1836.  Perhaps 
I  best  illustrate  the  method  of  his  instruction  when  I  say  that  I  think 
every  man  in  that  section  would  now  say  that  he  was  on  intimate 
terms  with  Mr.  Longfellow.  From  the  first  he  chose  to  take  with  us 
the  relation  of  a  personal  friend  a  few  years  older  than  we  were.  .  .  . 
Besides  [directing  the  department  of  modern  languages]  he  lectured 
on  authors  or  more  general  subjects.  I  think  attendance  was  volun- 
tary, but  I  know  we  never  missed  a  lecture.  I  have  full  notes  of  his 
lectures  on  Dante's  Divina  Commedia^  which,  confirm  my  recollections, 
namely,  that  he  read  the  whole  to  us  in  English  and  explained  what- 
ever he  thought  needed  comment.  I  have  often  referred  to  these 
notes  since,  and  though  I  suppose  that  he  included  all  that  he  thought 
worth  while  in  his  notes  to  his  translation  of  Dante,  I  know  that  until 
that  was  published  I  could  find  no  such  reservoir  of  comment  on  the 
poem."  For  nearly  twenty  years  Longfellow  continued  this  class- 
room work,  and  the  suggestion  of  translating  the  whole  of  the  Divi?ia 
Commedia  probably  came  to  him  while  thus  explaining  the  poem  to 
beginners  in  Italian  literature.  Certain  it  is  that  the  fragmentary 
translations,  to  which  we  have  referred,  were  written,  with  others  of 
favorite  passages,  in  an  interleaved  copy  of  the  poem,  used  as  a 
note-book  for  his  lectures  and  class-room  readings  from  Dante. 
Longfellow's  journal  during  this  time  contains  many  scattered 
references  to  his  growing  interest  in  Dante.  With  increasing  years 
and  ripening  appreciation,  the  full  significance  of  the  life  and  work 
of  the  great  Florentine  grew  upon  him.  From  the  position  of  a  much 
esteemed  author,  Dante  came  to  be  an  important  factor  in  Longfellow's 
inmost  life.  Early  in  the  forties  he  began,  with  the  Furgatorio,  the 
systematic  translating  of  the  Commedia,  and  though  he  was  to  lay 
it  aside  for  many  years  before  he  resumed  the  task  and  carried  it 
to  completion,  the  spirit  of  his  work  was  always  the  same.  In  a 
letter  of  1843  he  speaks  of  "the  divine  Dante"  with  whom  he  was 
accustomed  to  begin  the  morning. 

His  next  ten  years  were  years  of  fruitful  activity  in  original  work. 
The  translating  from  the  Purgatorio  was  suspended  for  the  time  being, 
yet  Dante  was  never  far  from  his  thoughts,  as  his  sonnet  of  1848,  his 
translation  of  Schelling's  essay  on  the  Divi?ia  Commedia,  and  the  con- 
tinued notes  in  his  journal  go  to  show.    In  the  latter  part  of  1852  there 


40 


DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 


came  over  Longfellow  a  sense  of  intellectual  exhaustion,  and  he  felt 
that  he  might  as  well  put  his  lyre  aside.  "It  seems  to  me  that  I  shall 
never  write  anything  more,"  said  he.  In  1853  he  wrote  but  one  poem. 
On  the  first  day  of  February  of  that  year  he  has  this  to  record :  "  In 
weariness  of  spirit  and  despair  of  writing  anything  original,  I  turned 
again  to-day  to  dear  old  Dante,  and  resumed  my  translation  of  the 
Purgatorio  where  I  had  left  it  in  1843.  I  find  great  delight  in  the  work. 
It  diffused  its  benediction  through  the  day."  For  a  week  or  two 
a  canto  was  translated  almost  daily,  thus  finishing  the  Purgatorio, — 
the  only  literary  event  in  this  year  of  his  life.  But  a  period  of  active 
original  production  speedily  followed,  and  the  translation  of  the 
Divina  Commedia  was  suspended  for  another  space  of  almost  ten  years. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  as  when  in  the  creative  mood  Longfellow 
translated  but  little  or  nothing,  so  when  devoting  himself  to  Dante 
he  held  his  powers  of  original  composition  in  abeyance. 

The  tragic  death  of  Longfellow's  wife  in  1861  meant  for  him  a 
break  not  only  in  his  work  but  in  his  very  life.  The  deep  under- 
current of  the  man's  nature  showed  itself  to  but  few ;  he  was  "  to 
the  eyes  of  others,  outwardly,  calm  ;  but  inwardly  bleeding  to  death." 
We  could  ask  for  no  more  convincing  proof  of  what  Dante  meant  to 
Longfellow  than  that  in  this  time  of  need  he  resumed  his  work  upon 
the  translation.  We  have  no  words  of  his  own  telling  of  the  con- 
solation he  found  there  ;  the  subject  was  too  sacred  for  him  to 
write  of  even  in  his  journal.  There  is  an  indirect  reference  to  it 
in  the  first  of  the  sonnets  prefaced  to  his  translation.  He  compares 
the  Divina  Commedia  to  a  vast  cathedral  and  says : 

I  enter  here  from  day  to  day. 
And  leave  my  burden  at  this  minster  gate. 

He  soon  became  absorbed  in  his  Dante  and  received  new  courage 
from  communing  with  him.  Whole  fortnights  were  given  up  to 
nothing  but  the  translation,  and  within  a  few  months  after  the  work 
was  fully  under  way,  he  was  able  to  record  its  completion  in  the 
rough.  Then  came  the  labor  of  polishing  and  revising,  with  which 
he  was  to  be  occupied  for  several  years.  This  portion  of  his  task 
became  irksome  to  him  ;  he  says  that  he  sometimes  felt  tempted  to 


LONGFELLOW.  41 

inscribe  upon  his  work  the  Hne  found  upon  an  oar  cast  on  the  coast 

of  Iceland,  — 

Oft  war  ek  dasa  dur  ek  dro  thick. 
Oft  was  I  weary  when  I  tugged  at  thee. 

And  then  again  he  writes  :  "  How  I  am  weary  of  correcting  and 
weighing  and  criticising  my  translation  !  It  takes  more  time  than 
it  did  to  make  it."  He  had  gone  over  his  translation  very  carefully 
so  as  to  have  it  "all  of  one  piece,"  and  after  he  received  the  proof 
from  the  printer  he  went  over  it  again  to  note  possible  lapses  from 
the  literal  sense  of  Dante's  words.  In  the  latter  revision  he  enjoyed 
the  helpful  cooperation  of  his  friends,  Mr.  Lowell  and  Mr.  Norton, 
with  the  occasional  counsel  of  George  W.  Greene,  James  T.  Fields, 
William  Dean  Howells,  and  others.  From  September,  1865,  to  May, 
1867,  Longfellow  devoted  his  Wednesday  evenings  to  the  giving  of 
final  touches,  and  he  was  at  home  to  all  who  cared  to  hear  him  read 
a  canto  from  his  proof  sheets  and  to  take  part  in  the  general  criti-  . 
cism  of  his  work.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  benefit  which 
Longfellow  derived  from  the  meetings  of  this  "  Dante  Club,"  as 
they  called  the  informal  gatherings.  Not  only  were  changes  made 
in  the  translation  on  the  basis  of  suggestions  offered,  but  the  friendly 
interest  shown  in  the  undertaking  also  lessened  the  tedium  of  revi- 
sion ;  an  air  of  charming  conviviality  was  cast  about  these  meetings, 
and  Longfellow  took  heart  and  soon  could  speak  of  the  Dante  Club 
as  going  "  singing  on  its  way." 

In  1865  the  six  hundredth  anniversary  of  Dante's  birth  was  cele- 
brated in  Florence,  and  attracted  wide  attention  wherever  the  poet's 
works  were  esteemed.  Of  the  many  publications  issued  in  honor 
of  the  event,  four  were  sent  out  from  America,  —  Professor  Norton's 
essay  "On  the  Original  Portraits  of  Dante,"  Professor  Botta's 
"Dante  as  Philosopher,  Patriot,  and  Poet,"  Dr.  Parsons'  "  Seventeen 
Cantos  of  the  Inferno^''  and  the  privately  printed  text  of  Longfellow's 
translation  of  the  Inferno.  The  books  were  sent  to  George  P.  Marsh, 
the  well-known  scholar,  who  was  at  that  time  the  American  Min- 
ister to  Italy.  In  forwarding  Longfellow's  volume  to  the  Italian 
committee  in  charge  of  the  centenary,  Mr.  Marsh  wrote :  "  I  am 
persuaded  that  the  committee  will  receive  this  first  American  repro- 
duction of  the  great  poem  —  a  translation  most  valuable  as  well  for  , 


42 


DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 


its  felicity  of  expression  as  for  the  exactness  with  which  my  dis- 
tinguished compatriot  has  had  the  ability  to  render,  in  a  language 
so  foreign  to  that  of  the  original,  the  thought  of  Dante's  sovereign 
genius  —  as  a  contribution  most  fitting  the  solemnity  of  the  cen- 
tenary, and  at  the  same  time  as  a  worthy  homage  from  the  New 
World  to  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  the  country  of  its  discoverer." 

The  next  year,  1866,  saw  the  private  issuing  of  the  translation  of 
the  Purgatorio^  and  the  following  year  that  of  the  Paradiso.  During 
the  early  part  of  1867  the  three  volumes  were  published,  with  the 
addition  of  notes  and  illustrative  material.  They  were  awaited  with 
interest  by  all  who  knew  of  their  preparation.  Shortly  before  their 
appearance,  the  historian  Milman  wrote  :  "  We  may  expect  great 
things  from  one  who  has  added  so  much  to  our  English  poetry,  and 
has  such  varied  command  of  our  language."  When  the  volumes 
were  finally  launched,  they  attracted  immediate  and  widespread 
attention.  To  one  friend  Longfellow  writes:  "The  only  .merit  my 
book  has  is  that  it  is  exactly  what  Dante  says,  and  not  what  the 
translator  imagines  he  might  have  said  if  he  had  been  an  English- 
man. In  other  words,  while  making  it  rhythmic,  I  have  endeavored 
to  make  it  also  as  literal  as  a  prose  translation."  He  sends  the 
books  to  his  old  friend  Ferdinand  Freiligrath,  and  in  a  note  says  : 
"  Of  what  I  have  been  through  during  the  last  six  years,  I  dare  not 
venture  to  write  even  to  you ;  it  is  almost  too  much  for  any  man  to 
bear  and  live.  I  have  taken  refuge  in  this  translation  of  the  Divine 
Comedy." 

With  the  exception  of  the  sonnets  prefacing  each  canticle,  there 
is  in  the  entire  work  no  word  of  introduction  or  explanation,  nothing 
to  tell  of  the  translator's  aim  or  motive.  Longfellow  at  first  thought 
of  three  poems  of  homage  as  fly-leaf  mottoes  for  the  three  parts  of 
the  Commedia,  —  translations  of  single  sonnets  by  Boccaccio  and 
Michael  Angelo,  and  a  new  sonnet  of  his  own  composing.  Later 
on  he  changed  his  plan  and  wrote  for  us  the  six  superb  sonnets 
which  express  so  nobly  his  feelings  towards  Dante.  These  sonnets 
are  masterpieces  of  construction  built  on  the  Italian  rhyme  scheme  ; 
four  of  them  are  fashioned  after  the  strictest  type.  One  must  search 
long  to  find  their  equal  for  technique,  thought,  and  imagery.  They 
are  the  only  personal  notes  in  the  three  copious  volumes,  and  must 


LONGFELLOW.  43 

serve  as  preface  and  apology.  Though  we  should  have  been  only 
too  glad  to  have  had  from  the  poet's  pen  a  connected  account  of 
his  study  of  Dante,  we  have  been  able  to  draw  from  his  scattered 
references  to  the  subject  all  that  we  need  know,  and  we  can  count 
ourselves  more  than  repaid  by  having  these  poems  in  little  which 
speak  so  much. 

Longfellow  had  no  ambition  to  shine  as  a  commentator  on  Dante  ; 
he  was  concerned  only  with  the  translation  of  the  poet,  and  the 
notes  he  made  for  his  work  were  almost  entirely  for  purposes  of 
illustration.  He  drew  a  very  sharp  line  between  translation  and 
comment.  In  his  "  Table-Talk  "  he  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  "  the 
business  of  a  translator  is  to  report  what  his  author  says,  not  to 
explain  what  he  means  :  that  is  the  work  of  the  commentator.  What 
an  author  says  and  how  he  says  it  —  that  is  the  problem  of  the  trans- 
lator." ^  Passages  permitting  of  two  interpretations  in  the  original 
retain  their  double  significance  in  Longfellow's  rendition.  The 
ambiguous  saying  of  Francesca  — 

Ma  solo  un  punto  fu  quel  che  ci  vinse  — 

is  allowed  to  remain  equally  ambiguous  : 

But  one  point  only  was  it  that  o'ercame  us. 

The  translator  does  not  consider  it  his  office  to  say  whether  punto 
means  a  point  in  time  or  a  point  in  Lanciotto's  tale ;  he  leaves  the 
decision  to  the  commentator  and  the  reader.  Wherever  possible 
Longfellow  adopts  a  locution  with  as  manifold  a  significance  as 
Dante's  own  words,  and  thus  gives  us  the  privilege  of  interpreting 
for  ourselves.^ 

1  Life,  1891,  vol.  ill,  p.  411. 

2  This  some  would  claim  as  a  fault,  arguing  that  ambiguity  is  a  defect  in  compo- 
sition which  the  translator  should  avoid  reproducing  by  the  exercise  of  his  judg- 
ment in  the  selection  of  an  expression  giving  the  most  probable  meaning  of  his 
author.  An  early  exponent  of  the  school  of  literalists  was  M.  Huet,  Bishop  of 
Avranches,  who,  in  his  "De  optimo  genere  interpretandi "  [London,  1684,  p.  27], 
gives  a  rule  supporting  the  custom  which  Longfellow  follows  :  Verbum  ambigue 
dictum  est,  et  duplicem  adfnittit  explicationem.  Certe  res  in  medio  posita  ut  erat, 
ita  debuit  consistere,  et  verbtim  anceps  ancipiti  verba  reddi,  ipsaque  sententice  am- 
biguitas  reprcesentari. 


44  DANTE   /A    AMERICA. 

On  the  appearance  of  the  completed  work,  George  Ticknor  wrote 
a  letter  of  appreciation,  in  which  he  touched  on  a  point  of  great 
moment  in  treating  of  the  merits  of  any  translation.  *'  Whether 
you  have  not  encumbered  yourself,"  said  he,  "with  heavier  and 
more  embarrassing  conditions  than  permit  the  free  poetical  move- 
ment which  an  absolutely  English  reader  covets,  is  a  question  which 
must  be  settled  by  the  popular  voice  as  separate  from  that  of  scho- 
lastic lovers  of  Dante.  On  that  bench  of  judges  I  can  never  be 
competent  to  sit  ;  I  shall  always  read  your  translation  with  the 
original  ringing  in  my  ears."  The  question  arises,  was  Ticknor 
right  in  thinking  that  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  text  of 
Dante  disqualified  him  as  a  critic  of  Longfellow's  work?  Who 
are  to  decide  whether  the  translator  has  done  his  work  faithfully 
and  well  ?  Is  a  translation  to  stand  only  upon  so  much  of  its  merit 
as  can  be  seen  by  the  reader  who  knows  not  the  original }  I  take 
it  that  qualifications  of  as  varied  a  nature  are  needed  for  the  pass- 
ing of  a  safe  judgment  upon  a  rendering  of  Dante  as  those  Matthew 
Arnold  asked  of  the  tribunal  to  which  he  would  bring  a  verse  trans- 
lation of  Homer.  That  ringing  of  the  original  in  his  ears,  which 
Ticknor  thought  incapacitated  him,  would  in  my  opinion  be  the  first 
essential  of  a  competent  judge ;  but  with  this  scholarly  attainment 
there  must  go  critical  acumen  and  poetical  feeling.  Lowell,  in  whom 
these  requisites  were  combined  in  a  marked  degree,  but  who  had  no . 
great  fondness  for  foreign  works  done  into  English,  regarded  Long- 
fellow's translation  "  not  as  the  best  possible,  by  any  means,  but  as  the 
best  probable."  "  Nobody  who  is  intimate  with  the  original,"  says  he 
in  one  of  his  letters,  "  will  find  any  translation  of  the  Divine  Comedy 
more  refreshing  than  cobs.  Has  not  Dante  himself  told  us  that  no 
poetry  can  be  translated .''  But  after  all  is  said,  I  think  Mr.  Long- 
fellow's the  best  thus  far,  as  being  the  most  accurate.  It  is  to  be 
looked  on,  I  think,  as  measured  prose  —  like  our  version  of  Job,  for 
example,  though  without  the  mastery  of  measure  in  which  our  Bible 
translators  are  unmatched  except  by  Milton  ;  I  mean  where  they 
are  at  their  best,  as  in  Job,  the  songs  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  the 
death  of  Sisera,  and  some  parts  of  the  Psalms.  Mr.  Longfellow  is 
not  a  scholar  in  the  German  sense  of  the  word,  —  that  is  to  say,  he 
is  no  pedant  ;  but  he  certainly  is  a  scholar  in  another  and  perhaps 


LONGFELLOW.  45 

a  higher  sense  ;   I  mean  in  range  of  acquirement  and  the  flavor  that 
comes  of  it." 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  speak  of  Longfellow's  translation  without 
bringing  up  the  vexed  question  as  to  what  is  the  most  adequate 
method  of  translating  poetry,  whether  it  is  best  to  aim  at  literalness 
within  the  limits  prescribed  by  verse,  or  to  regard  free  poetical 
movement  as  of  paramount  importance,  valuing  the  spirit  above 
the  letter,  or  yet,  in  despair  of  reproducing  anything  like  the  rhyth- 
mical effect  of  the  original,  to  take'  refuge  in  a  carefully  executed 
prose  translation.  As  it  so  happens  that  we  find  each  of  the  three 
methods  represented  in  the  work  done  by  our  American  translators 
of  Dante,  we  shall  briefly  review  here,  and  under  what  we  have  to 
say  of  Dr.  Parsons  and  Professor  Norton,  the  arguments  which  these 
several  translators  have  made,  or  hinted  at,  in  support  of  their 
respective  theories. 

No  one  recognized  more  fully  than  Longfellow  the  arduousness 
of  the  task  to  which  he  had  set  himself.  He  quotes  approvingly 
the  sayings  of  both  Dante  and  Cervantes  about  the  linguistic  impos- 
sibility of  transferring  the  melody  of  verse  from  one  language  to 
another.  "The  difliculty,"  said  Longfellow,  "lies  chiefly  in  the 
color  of  words.  Is  the  Italian  'ruscelletto  gorgolioso'  fully  rendered 
by  '  gurgling  brooklet '  ?  Or  the  Spanish  '  pajaros  vocingleros  '  by 
'  garrulous  birds  '  ?  Something  is  wanting."  Yet  after  his  apprentice 
days  he  never  tried  to  supply  that  "  something  "  by  resorting  to  a 
new  word  or  using  a  different  expression  from  that  of  his  author. 
Faithfulness  to  his  original  is  the  fundamental  principle  of  all  his 
mature  work.  "  A  great  many  people  think,"  says  he  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters, "  that  a  translation  ought  not  to  be  too  faithful  ;  that  the  writer 
should  put  himself  into  it  as  well  as  his  original ;  that  it  should  be 
Homer  &  Co.,  or  Dante  &  Co. ;  and  that  what  the  foreign  author 
really  says  should  be  falsified  or  modified  if  thereby  the  smoothness 
of  the  verse  can  be  improved.  On  the  contrary,  I  maintain  that  a 
translator,  like  the  witness  on  the  stand,  should  hold  up  his  right 
hand  and  swear  to  'tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth.'  "  Longfellow  accepted  as  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
such  strict  fidelity  to  the  text  before  him  would  rob  his  ver 
much  fluidity,  ease,  and  grace  of  construction ;  but  this  is  the  price 


46  DANTE   JN  AMERICA. 

which  the  man  of  one  language  must  pay  for  the  privilege  of  read- 
ing the  exact  matter  of  Dante  in  English  verse. 

Then,   too,    Longfellow   was   fully  acquainted  with  the  rhythmic 

erence  between  the  two  languages.  He  knew  that  even  though 
he  preserved  the  metrical  scheme  of  the  terza  rtma,  the  rhythm  of 
his  lines  would  vary  from  that  of  the  Italian,  owing  to  the  different 
time-values  of  the  syllables  that  make  up  the  corresponding  English 
and  Italian  words.  He  therefore  not  only  gave  up  terza  rima,  but 
he  discarded  rhyme  altogether.     "  In  translating  Dante,"  said  he, 

omething  must  be  relinquished.  Shall  it  be  the  beautiful  rhyme 
that  blossoms  all  along  the  line  like  a  honeysuckle  on  the  hedge  ? 
It  must  be,  in  order  to  retain  something  more  precious  than  rhyme, 
namely,  fidelity,  truth,  —  the  life  of  the  hedge  itself."  The  freedom 
and  independence  gained  by  choosing  blank  verse  gave  Longfellow 
a  wide  latitude  in  which  to  seek  for  the  best  words  to  reproduce 
the  Italian  passage  before  him.  Though  English,  through  its 
poverty  in  rhyme-words,  is  ill  fitted  for  compositions  with  the  triple 
rhyme,  yet  by  virtue  of  its  pliability,  it  is  admirably  suited  to  the 
needs  of  epic  and  narrative  poetry  in  blank  verse.  But  as  blank 
verse  is  one  of  the  grandest  of  English  meters,  so  also  is  it  one  of 
the  most  difficult  in  which  to  obtain  marked  success  ,  and  we  cannot 
look  for  the  same  excellence  in  its  lines  when  the  English  poet  is 
bound  to  the  exact  matter  of  another's  speech  as  when  he  is  free  to 
range  over  the  wide  fields  of  thought  and  expression.  Naturally,  a 
literal  translation  in  blank  verse  will  not  have  all  the  ease  of  original 
composition  ;  and  in  this  Longfellow's  Dante  is  no  exception. 

Beginners  in  the  study  of  Divina  Commedia  in  English  often  attri- 
bute to  a  translation  many  of  the  difficulties  with  which  they  meet  in 
the  first  reading.  They  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  obscurities  are 
shared  by  the  Italian  original.  The  poem  is  not  easy  reading  for  even 
the  native  of  Tuscany.  To  the  objections  sometimes  urged  against 
Longfellow's  rendering  on  the  ground  that  it  is  hard  to  follow,  we  would 
give  answer  that  Longfellow  did  not  aim  at  making  a  handbook  for  the 
study  of  Dante.  He  strove  merely  for  a  reproduction  in  English 
blank  verse  of  what  Dante  had  said  in  most  mellifluous  Italian  terza 
rima.  There  his  task  ended,  and  what  is  thought  of  his  accomplish- 
ment can  be  gathered  from  the  words  of  some  representative  critics. 


PARSONS. 


47 


Lowell's  opinion  we  have  already  had.  Professor  Norton,  who 
according  to  his  own  statement  was  not  disposed  to  *'  substitute  com- 
mendation for  criticism,"  expressed  himself  of  the  opinion  that  Long- 
fellow's was  the  best  existing  translation  of  Dante.  In  speaking  of  the 
work,  shortly  after  its  appearance,  he  said  :  "No  one  acquainted  with 
the  extraordinary  felicity  of  Mr.  Longfellow's  versions  of  the  poetry  of 
other  languages  —  a  felicity  which  was  one  of  the  proofs  of  his  origi- 
nal genius  —  can  have  doubted  that  his  success  would  be  great  in 
any  task  to  which  he  might  set  himself.  But  the  measure  of  success 
he  has  attained  can  hardly  fail  to  surprise  even  those  who  have  the 
highest  confidence  in  his  achievements."  No  less  emphatic  were 
the  words  of  William  Dean  Howells.  "  Opening  the  book,"  said  he, 
"we  stand  face  to  face  with  the  poet,  and  when  his  voice  ceases 
we  may  well  marvel  if  he  has  not  sung  to  us  in  his  own  Tuscan." 
And  John  Fiske,  after  quoting  Sainte-Beuve's  epigram,  "Z^  belle 
destmee  de  ne  pouvoir  plus  mourir^  sinon  avec  un  immortel !  "  says  : 
"  Apart  from  Mr.  Longfellow's  other  titles  to  undying  fame,  such  a 
destiny  is  surely  marked  out  for  him,  and  throughout  the  English 
portions  of  the  world,  his  name  will  always  be  associated  with  that 
of  the  great  Florentine." 


THOMAS  WILLIAM  PARSONS. 

America  had  in  Parsons  a  poet  of  very  high  order,  whose  free 
fancy  and  exquisite  workmanship  have  not  won  for  him  the  wide 
popularity  which  his  contributions  to  our  literature  merit.  True, 
he  neither  sought  nor  cared  for  renown  ;  it  was  only  at  the  solici- 
tation of  friends  that  he  was  induced  to  make  several  partial  collec- 
tions of  his  poems^  and  these  were  for  the  most  part  privately  printed. 
Dr.  Holmes,  in  answer  to  a  letter  asking  whether  he  could  explain 
why  so  true  a  poet  as  Parsons  had  not  fame  commensurate  with  his 
genius,  wrote :  "  Parsons  is  appreciated  by  scholars  ;  his  genius  is 
recognized  widely  in  Europe,  and  his  poems  are  greatly  admired 
there.  A  great  part  of  his  literary  work  is  in  translations,  and  this, 
while  perhaps  it  should,  does  not  always  gain  for  the  writer  the  fame 
corresponding  to  the  value  of  the  work.      In   his  lifelong  devotion 


48  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

to  Dante,  by  the  absorbing  study  he  has  given  him,  I  attribute  his 
felicity  of  style,  the  exquisite  literary  art  that  characterizes  his  work. 
He  does  not,  with  his  fine  poetical  genius,  give  us  poems  often 
enough.  Some  of  his  poems  have  the  most  pathetic  tenderness, 
grace,  music,  and  finished  art,  and  they  rank  with  the  best  of  our  or 
any  other  period.  His  translation  of  Dante  will  carry  his  name  to 
posterity  as  a  noble  and  monumental  achievement."^ 

He  was  a  sensitive  and  impressionable  youth,  and  a  journey  to  Italy 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  had  much  to  do  with  the  moulding  of  his  likes 
and  studies  in  after  life.  This  first  visit  to  Florence  and  his  early 
introduction  to  Dante  are  recalled  in  the  opening  lines  of  his  poem, 
"  La  Pineta  Distrutta." 

Farewell,  Ravenna's  forest !  and  farewell 

For  aye  through  coming  centuries  to  the  sound. 

Over  blue  Adria,  of  the  lyric  pines. 

And  Chiassi's  bird-song  keeping  burden  sweet 

To  their  low  moan  as  once  to  Dante's  lines. 

Which,  when  my  step  first  felt  Italian  ground, 

I  strove  to  follow,  carried  by  the  spell 

Of  that  sad  Florentine  whose  native  street 

(At  morn  and  midnight)  where  he  used  to  dwell, 

My  father  bade  me  pace  with  reverent  feet.^ 

In  another  place,  speaking  of  this  same  visit  to  Florence,  he  tells 
us  that  it  was  "  there,  in  the  venerable  Borgo  Sant'  Apostolo,  conse- 
crated, in  my  imagination,  by  a  verse  of  Dante's,  in  the  ancient 
House  of  the  Acciaiuoli,  and  in  the  home  of  a  learned  lady  who 
bore  the  name  of  the  poet,  I  became  enamoured  of  the  Divina  Com- 
mediar  A  few  years  later  the  young  enthusiast  essayed  a  literal 
line-for-line  version  of  his  newly  found  treasure.  With  the  hope- 
fulness of  youth  he  aspired  even  to  the  triple  rhyme,  but  he  soon 
discovered  that  he  had  aimed  too  high,  and  must  content  him- 
self with  some  measure  less  exacting  and  more  in  accord  with  the 

1  The  Bostonian,  June,  1895. 

2 "The  delicate  involution  or  inversion  of  these  lines,"  writes  Miss  Guiney,  "is 
a  good  instance  of  a  marked  literary  peculiarity  of  Dr.  Parsons,  which  none  of  our 
poets  shared  with  him.  I  have  no  doubt  he  got  this  graceful  Latinism  directly 
from  Dante,  as  he  had  it  from  Virgil." 


PA /i  SONS. 


49 


restrictions  imposed  upon  him  by  his  task.  He  therefore  espoused 
the  quatrain,  used  with  such  good  effect  by  Dryden  and  Gray,  which 
he  felt  to  be  the  nearest  approach  to  the  "  lengthened  harmony  "  of 
the  terza  rima  recognizable  by  English  ears. 

Parsons  was  twenty-four  years  of  age  when,  in  1843,  he  issued  his 
translation  of  the  first  ten  cantos  of  the  Inferno,  a  modest  little 
volume  in  brown  boards.  The  translation  was  prefaced  by  the 
"  Lines  on  a  Bust  of  Dante,"  which  have  since  become  famous,  and 
have  been  gathered  into  the  anthologies.  In  reviews  of  the  book, 
this  poem  was  singled  out  for  special  mention.  Longfellow  showed 
his  appreciation  by  including  it  in  "  The  Estray,"  a  collection 
of  poems  edited  by  him  and  published  in  1847.  The  translation 
itself  was  received  with  some  qualifications  of  approval  ;  its  grace 
and  finish  were  quite  generally  admired-,  but  exception  was  taken  to 
the  frequent  divergence  from  Dante's  word  and  manner.  The  trans- 
lator was  advised  by  more  than  one  well-meaning  reviewer  to  study 
Dante  more  closely.  Among  the  last  words  written  by  the  then 
very  aged  Gary  are  those  of  a  letter  to  the  young  American  poet : 

Sir  February  26,  1844. 

Many  thanks  from  an  old  brother  translator  for  your  kind  considera- 
tion in  sending  him  your  version  of  the  first  ten  cantos  of  the  Inferno. 
I  received  it  only  a  day  or  two  since  and  have  read  it  twice  with  much 
pleasure.  It  appears  to  me  to  possess  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  fluency, 
vivacity,  and  harmony  of  original  composition.  This  unavoidably  is 
effected  at  the  expense  of  some  departure  from  Dante's  grave  and  sedate 
character,  though  his  general  meaning  is  faithfully  given.  The  form  of 
rhymes  you  have  adopted  is  probably  the  best  our  language  can  afford  for 
the  purpose  :  the  terza  rhna  would  often  be  found  totally  unmanageable. 

If  you  persevere  in  your  intention  of  going  on  with  the  remainder  of 
the  Divina  Commedia,  there  is  great  hope  of  your  producing  a  work  that 
will  please  a  numerous  class  of  readers  ;  and  you  will  render  a  good  ser- 
vice to  the  cause  of  our  common  literature.     I  remain,  sir. 

Your  very  faithful  humble  servant, 

H.  F.  Gary. 

Although  Dr.  Parsons  kept  the  work  constantly  in  mind,  and  was 
urged  by  his  friends  to  continue  his  translation,  he  did  not  live  (though 
he  lived  long  enough !)  to  complete  the  Purgatorio,  and  the  Paradiso  is 


5©  DANTE  IN  AMERICA, 

represented  but  by  a  few  fragments.^  His  was  not  the  nature  to  be 
tied  down  to  such  a  service,  unless  the  inspiration  of  the  moment 
impelled  him  to  it.  His  own  Muse  was  constantly  claiming  his 
thought  and  leading  him  afield.  He  excused  himself  for  entertaining 
his  own  fancies  in  the  lines  — 

Friends  must  be  patient  when  I  do  these  things, 
Wasting  an  hour  that  might  be  better  given 
To  work  —  in  following  Dante  far  as  heaven. 
For  when  unbid  the  spirit  inly  sings. 
And  will  not  be  controlled  by  other's  mood. 
That  hour  is  oft  the  harvest  time  that  brings 
The  best  thought  uppermost :  if  then  subdued 
To  serve  a  master,  my  own  goddess  flies, 
And  inspiration  cometh  not  if  sought, 
And  second  best  is  only  half  way  good. 

Longfellow's  description  of  Dr.  Parsons  as  the  "Poet"  of  the 
"  Wayside  Inn  "  is  a  happy  analysis  of  the  man's  make-up  : 

A  poet,  too,  was  there,  whose  verse 

Was  tender,  musical,  and  terse  : 

The  inspiration,  the  delight. 

The  gleam,  the  glory,  the  swift  flight 

Of  thoughts  so  sudden  that  they  seem 

The  revelations  of  a  dream. 

All  these  were  his  ;  but  with  them  came 

No  envy  of  another's  fame  ; 

He  did  not  find  his  sleep  less  sweet 

For  music  in  some  neighboring  street, 

Nor  rustling  hear  in  every  breeze 

The  laurels  of  Miltiades. 

Honor  and  blessings  on  his  head 

While  Hving,  good  report  when  dead, 

Who,  not  too  eager  for  renown. 

Accepts,  but  does  not  clutch,  the  crown  ! 

1 "  Though  Dr.  Parsons  was  a  ripe  scholar,"  said  one  who  knew  him  well, 
"familiar  with  all  classic  literature,  and  had  no  life,  as  it  were,  outside  these 
patrician  friendships,  —  yet  Dante  was  truly  the  Only  One  to  him.  Longfellow, 
and  even  our  dear  Lowell,  had,  after  all,  other  heroes.  I  think  Parsons'  mind 
was  more  dominated  by  Dante,  and  infused  with  his  thought,  than  theirs." 


.P4KS01VS.. 


Under  date  of  June  2,  1867,  Longfellow  makes  mention  in  his  j  ^ 
journal  of  a  call  from  Parsons,  and  a  talk  they  had  about  theories  of  1 
translation.     What  a  pity  to  have  no  record  of  that  conversation  !  \ 
The  third  and  last  volume  of  Longfellow's  Dante  was  to  appear  that  I 
month,  and  Dr.  Parsons  had  just  completed  his  translation  of  the    1 
Inferno.     The  whole  subject  of  the  translating  of  poetry  must  have 
been  very  fresh  in  the  minds  of  both,  and  it  would  be  instructive  to 
know  what  each  had  to  say  in  favor  of  his  theory^-'aftexjie  had  given  it 
so  thorough  a  trial.     Both  had  changed  somewhat  in  theTl'-'eiftinions 
regarding  the  translator's  art,  since  their  first  attempts   at  it  ma 
years  before.     The  more  famous  poet  had  become  stricter  in  his 
tenets  concerning  literalness  ;  while  the  other,  after  an  early  endeavor 
at  an  exact  verbal  rendering  in  terza  rima,  had  soon  abandoned  this 
foreign  metrical  form  as  unsuited  to  the  genius  of  our  language,  and 
had  taken  to  the  freer  rendering  and  more  fluent  lines  of  the  version 
he  has  left  us.     Longfellow,  in  a  series  of  disconnected  remarks  scat- 
tered throughout  his  journal  and  letters,  has  given  us  his  reasons  for 
the  views  he  held  on  the  art  of  translating,  but  Dr.  Parsons  has  told 
us  nothing. 

Though  Parsons  never  gave  us  his  theories,  his  practices  proclaimed 
his  principles.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  poetry  that  the  idea  shall  be  en- 
rapport  with  the  form  into  which  it  is  cast,  and  the  truer  the  poetry, 
the  closer  the  bond.  The  whole  problem  of  translating  verse  into 
verse  turns  upon  the  question  of  transferring  this  harmony  between 
thought  and  form,  of  reproducing,  as  near  as  the  changed  conditions 
will  allow,  the  same  relation  between  the  verse  and  its  content  as 
existed  in  the  original.  Now,  Dante's  style,  which  Lowell  speaks  of^\ 
as  being  "  parsimonious  in  the  number  of  its  words,  goldenly  suffi- 
cient in  the  value  of  them,"  renders  him  a  superlatively  difficult 
author  to  translate  literally  into  easy-flowing  English  verse.  With 
the  choice  of  his  meter  was  determined  in  large  part  the  nature  of 
Parsons'  version.  Even  though  he  strove  to  follow  Dante  closely,  he 
must  constantly  be  called  upon  to  compress  three  of  his  author's  lines 
into  two  of  his  own,  or  amplify  the  same  into  an  entire  quatrain. 
But  interpolation  falsifies  the  original,  dilation  weakens  the  sense, 
and  with  Dante  abridgment  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  However,  in 
weighing  the  demands  of  fidelity  to  the  text  against  the   claims  of 


52  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

rhythm  and  idiomatic  English,  Parsons  is  sure  to  think  most  of  the 
construction  of  his  lines.  Careful  finish  is  characteristic  of  his 
verse,  and  even  in  translation  he  cannot  forego  his  delight  in  this, 
though  it  be  at  the  expense  of  his  author's  exact  words.  Yet  Dante's 
every  thought  is  precious  to  Parsons,  and  he  is  not  one  of  those  trans- 
lators who  hope  to  improve  upon  their  original.  Taken  largely,  there 
is,  in  his  version,  no  wide  departure  from  the  sense  and  purport  of  the 
original ;  but  Dante's  distinctive  style  is  wanting,  and  a  new  foreign 
spirit  is  infused  into  the  rifacimento.  It  is  as  if  Parsons  had  heeded 
the  counsel  of  Sir  John  Denham,  who  says  of  the  translator,  "  it  is 
not  his  business  alone  to  translate  language  into  language,  but  poesie 
into  poesie  ;  and  poesie  is  of  so  subtle  a  spirit,  that  in  pouring  out  of 
one  language  into  another  it  will  all  evaporate  ;  and  if  a  new  spirit  is 
not  added  in  the  transfusion,  there  will  remain  nothing  but  a  caput 
mortuum" 

Parsons  is  one  of  that  long  line  of  English  translators,  headed  by 
King  Alfred,  who  strove  to  follow  Boethius,  "  now  word  for  word,  now 
spirit  for  spirit."  To  this  company  belonged  Pope,  who  held  that 
"the  fire  of  a  poem  is  what  a  translator  should  principally  regard," 
and  Dryden,  with  his  belief  that  "  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  limit  a 
translator  to  the  narrow  compass  of  his  author's  words."  The  class 
has  had  many  apologists,  in  many  tongues.  An  ardent  advocate  of 
their  principles  is  Schlegel,  the  German  translator  of  Shakespeare, 
who  strove  to  "  follow,  step  by  step,  the  letter  of  the  sense,  and  yet 
catch  part  of  the  innumerable,  indescribable  beauties  which  do  not 
lie  in  the  letter,  but  hover  about  it  like  an  intellectual  spirit."  A 
worthy  object,  it  may  be ;  but  just  how  is  the  translator  to  catch  the 
particular  charm  of  his  foreign  poet  ?  The  spirit  of  poetry  is  of  an 
evanescent  nature,  and  eludes  the  pursuer  like  a  will-o'-the-wisp. 
There  is  the  ever-present  danger  of  the  translator's  being  wrong  in 
his  personal  estimate  of  what  constitutes  the  spirit  of  his  author,  and, 
even  if  he  judged  aright,  would  he  be  able  to  reproduce  the  charac- 
teristic tone  by  this  method  of  sketching  in  of  added  color  ?  The 
tendency  towards  realism,  which  is  seen  so  widely  in  the  literature 
of  to-day,  is  averse  to  this  method  of  portrayal,  and  prefers  the  more 
faithful  and  impersonal  work  of  the  metaphrast,  hoping  that  some 
suggestion  of  the  spirit  may  accompany  the  translated  words.     And 


LOWELL.  23 

with  the  great  poets  the  precise  word  is  often  a  matter  of  much 
moment.  The  minor  and  the  lyric  poets  will  admit  of  freer  hand- 
ling. In  the  Divina  Commedia  particularly  does  every  word  carry 
with  it  its  own  peculiar  significance. 

Parsons,  it  is  granted,  has  a  much  higher  ideal  of  the  office  of  the 
translator  than  had  the  early  English  representatives  of  his  school 
whom  we  have  quoted,  and  he  is  too  much  of  a  modern  to  disregard 
so  unconcernedly  the  text  before  him.  He  has  many  happy  render- 
ings of  the  sense  of  his  author,  and  his  English  is  of  so  rare  a  type 
that  it  cannot  but  please  ;  and  because  of  its  merits  as  an  English 
poem,  his  translation  will  never  want  for  admirers.  By  virtue  of  its 
melody,  it  charms  the  reader  and  holds  his  attention.  Years  ago 
Professor  Norton  spoke  of  it  as  a  work  which  of  its  kind  "can  hardly 
be  too  warmly  praised ;  nor  is  it  to  detract  from  its  praise  to  say  that 
though  free,  it  is  not  more  poetic  than  the  literal  version  of  its 
author's  brother-poet  [Longfellow]."  Beyond  this  oppositeness  in 
the  methods  pursued  by  the  two  translators  is  the  added  difference 
of  their  diction,  —  a  natural  consequence  of  their  different  positions. 
While  Longfellow  seeks  for  words  of  Romance  origin.  Parsons  delights 
in  plain  Saxon  phrases.  The  Italian  constantly  shines  through  Long- 
fellow's rendering ;  but  Parsons'  lines  are  read  with  but  little  sugges- 
tion of  their  being  from  a  foreign  original.  As  a  memorial  to  Dante, 
and  especially  as  a  contribution  to  American  literature,  the  work  of 
Dr.  Parsons  will  always  be  cherished.  He  has  been  granted  the 
prayer  with  which  he  closed  the  completed  first  canticle,  "  Tantus 
labor  non  sit  cassus,''  and  he  himself  received  into  the  circle  of  those 
who  do  honor  to  the  divine  poet. 


JAMES    RUSSELL    LOWELL. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  in  the  understanding  of  Dante, 
few  of  any  time  or  country  have  surpassed  our  own  genuinely  Ameri- 
can Lowell.  His  appreciation  was  of  the  keenest,  and  his  ability,  as 
a  critic,  of  the  highest  order.  Poet  and  scholar,  he  combined  happily 
the  insight  of  the  one  with  the  trained  judgment  of  the  other.     As 


54 


DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 


the  fruit  of  a  long  study  of  Dante,  he  has  left  us  an  essay  which,  as 
Mr.  Norton  says,  '*  makes  other  writing  about  the  poet  and  the  poem 
seem  ineffectual  and  superfluous."  This  essay,  as  printed  in  his  col- 
lected works,  is  made  up  of  a  biographical  sketch  published  in  the 
••New  American  Encyclopaedia"  (1859),  ^"^  ^^  ^  magazine  article 
written  in  1872,  in  the  heat  of  summer  and  all  the  bustle  preceding  a 
departure  for  Europe.  The  two  articles  were  afterwards  skilfully 
blended,  and  though  the  resulting  essay  lacks  of  necessity  some  of 
the  unity  of  form  which  we  expect  from  such  a  writer  as  Lowell,  it 
has  what  is  wanting  to  so  many  essays  on  the  same  theme,  —  a  distinct 
picture  of  who  Dante  was,  a  clear  and  concise  estimate  of  what  he 
believed,  and  an  admirable  account  of  the  life  he  lived  and  the  books 
he  wrote. ^ 

Lowell  was  a  most  assiduous  reader.  He  not  only  read  widely,  but 
his  favorite  books  he  read  and  re-read.  He  always  went  to  the 
original  sources,  and  had  little  use  for  diluted  information.  He  found 
translations  disenchanting,  and  thought  them  at  best  "  but  an  imita- 
tion of  natural  flowers  in  cambric  or  wax."  •'  It  is  precisely  those 
works,"  he  remarked  in  a  college  lecture,  "which  are  most  character- 
istic, which  most  deepen  and  widen  the  mind,  which  quicken  the 
sense  of  beauty,  which  beckon  the  imagination  — it  is  precisely  those 
which  are  untranslatable,  nay,  which  are  so  in  exact  proportion  as 
they  are  masterly.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  great  poets,  the 
glow  of  whose  genius  fuses  the  word  and  the  idea  into  a  rich 
Corinthian  metal  which  no  imitation  can  replace."  For  commentators 
of  the  usual  run  Lowell  had  nothing  but  maledictions.  He  sees  the 
Italians  forever  twitching  at  Dante's  sleeve  and  "  trying  to  make  him 

1 "  One  need  not  be  a  Dantean  scholar  to  comprehend  the  scope  and  strength 
of  this  prolonged,  cumulative,  coherent  analysis  of  the  Florentine's  career,  fortified 
by  citations,  and  enriched  with  knowledge  of  Italian  history,  literature,  atmos- 
phere, at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  such  as  few  living  men  possess." — 
E.  C.  Stedman,  Poets  of  America. 

Of  this  essay  Dr.  Holmes  said  in  a  letter  to  Lowell,  "  It  serves  a  great  pur- 
pose, quite  independently  of  its  value  with  reference  to  Dante  and  his  readers ; 
it  shows  our  young  American  scholars  that  they  need  not  be  provincial  in  their 
way  of  thought  or  their  scholarship  because  they  happen  to  be  born  or  bred  in  an 
outlying  district  of  the  great  world  of  letters."  —  J.  S.  Morse,  Jr.,  Life  and  Letters 
of  O.  W.  Holmes,  ii,  p.  116. 


LOWELL. 


55 


say  he  is  of  their  way  of  thinking.  Of  their  way  indeed  !  One 
would  think  he  might  be  free  of  them,  at  least,  in  Paradise."  It  was 
to  the  author's  own  words  that  Lowell  continually  went  and  would 
have  others  go.  He  believed  that  one  might  get  a  thoroughly  good 
education  out  of  a  work  like  Dante's,  if  read  in  the  right  way,  inquir- 
ingly, and  with  constant  self-interrogation.  It  was  in  this  manner 
that  he  himself  became  so  intimately  acquainted  with  the  Divina 
Commedia.  In  one  of  his  college  lectures  he  has  given  an  outline  of 
the  spread  of  his  interest  when  once  'it  had  been  awakened : 

One  is  sometimes  asked  by  young  men  to  recommend  to  them  a  course 
of  reading.  My  advice  would  always  be  to  confine  yourself  to  the  supreme 
books  in  whatever  literature  ;  still  better  to  choose  some  one  great  author 
and  grow  thoroughly  familiar  with  him.  For  as  all  roads  lead  to  Rome, 
so  they  all  likewise  lead  thence  ;  and  you  will  find  that  in  order  to  under- 
stand perfectly  and  weigh  exactly  any  really  vital  piece  of  literature,  you 
will  be  gradually  and  pleasantly  persuaded  to  studies  and  explorations  of 
which  you  little  dreamed  when  you  began,  and  will  find  yourselves  scholars 
before  you  are  aware  of  it.  If  I  may  be  allowed  a  personal  explanation,  it 
was  my  own  profound  admiration  for  the  Divina  Cominedia  of  Dante  that 
lured  me  into  what  litde  learning  I  possess.  For  remember  there  is  noth- 
ing less  fruitful  than  scholarship  for  the  sake  of  mere  scholarship,  nor  any- 
thing more  wearisome  in  the  attainment.  But  the  moment  you  have  an 
object  and  a  center,  attention  is  quickened  —  the  mother  of  memory  ;  and 
whatever  you  acquire  groups  and  arranges  itself  in  an  order  which  is  lucid 
because  it  is  everywhere  in  an  intelligent  relation  to  an  object  of  constant 
and  growing  interest.  Thus,  as  respects  Dante,  I  asked  myself.  What 
are  his  points  of  likeness  or  unlikeness  with  the  authors  of  classical  an- 
tiquity? In  how  far  is  either  of  these  an  advantage  or  defect?  What 
and  how  much  modern  literature  had  preceded  him  ?  How  much  was  he 
indebted  to  it?  How  far  had  the  Italian  language  been  subdued  and  sup- 
pled to  the  uses  of  poetry  or  prose  before  his  time  ?  How  much  did  he 
color  the  style  or  thought  of  the  authors  who  followed  him  ?  Is  it  a  fault 
or  a  merit  that  he  is  so  thoroughly  impregnated  with  the  opinions,  passions, 
and  even  prejudices,  not  only  of  his  own  age,  but  his  country  ?  To  what 
extent  is  a  certain  freedom  of  opinion,  which  he  shows  sometimes  on  points 
of  religious  doctrine,  to  be  attributed  to  the  humanizing  influences  of  the 
Crusades  in  enlarging  the  horizon  of  the  Western  mind  by  bringing  it  in 
contact  with  other  races,  religions,  and  social  arrangements  ?  These  and 
a  hundred  other  questions  were  constant  stimulants  to  thought  and  inquiry, 


56 


DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 


stimulants  such  as  no  merely  objectless  and,  so  to  speak,  impersonal  study 
could  have  supplied. 

It  was  a  somewhat  similar  course  which  Lowell  followed  in  his 
class-room  instruction  at  Harvard.  Some  of  those  who  read  the 
modern  authors  under  him  remember  with  pleasure  the  originality  of 
his  method  of  imparting  information,  the  sprightliness  of  his  digres- 
sive talks,  and  the  exceeding  profit  with  which  they  pursued  their 
work  under  his  inspiring  guidance.  He  was  more  of  a  poet  than  an 
accepted  professor  of  the  modern  languages,  and  he  spoke  to  his  pupils 
of  the  great  poets  as  poets,  and  not  as  fruitful  ground  for  the  study 
of  philology.^  His  delightful  rambles  into  the  provinces  of  the 
man  of  letters  and  the  moral  philosopher,  his  talks  on  style  and  the 
problems  of  all  times,  constituted  a  vital  charm  in  the  minds  of  the 
students  who  each  year  chose  to  study  under  him.  This  exceptional, 
unacademic  mode  of  procedure  was  very  effective  under  his  hand- 
ling. "  It  made  a  romance  of  the  hour,"  says  Henry  James.  "  It 
made  even  a  picture  of  the  scene  ;  it  was  an  unforgettable  initiation. 
.  .  .  He  was  so  steeped  in  history  and  literature  that  to  some  yearn- 
ing young  persons  he  made  the  taste  of  knowledge  sweeter,  almost, 
than  it  was  ever  to  be  again.  He  was  redolent,  intellectually  speak- 
ing, of  Italy  and  Spain ;  he  had  lived  in  long  intimacy  with  Dante 
and  Calderon ;  he  embodied,  to  envious  aspirants,  the  happy  intel- 
lectual fortune :  independent  years  in  a  full  library,  years  of  acqui- 
sition, without  haste  and  without  rest,  a  robust  love  of  study,  which 
went  socially  arm  in  arm  with  a  robust  love  of  life.  This  love  of 
life  was  so  strong  in  him  that  he  could  lose  himself  in  little  diver- 
sions, as  well  as  in  big  books." 

Of  the  reminiscences  of  Lowell  as  a  teacher,  given  by  his  students, 
none  touch  so  closely  on  the  subject  in  hand  as  the  sketch  written 
by  Professor  Barrett  Wendell,  and  we  therefore  press  into  service  the 
latter's  excellent  account  of  Lowell's  method  of  conducting  the  study 
of  Dante  : 

1 "  He  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  before  the  linguistic  age,  and  the  good 
taste  to  have  been  an  early  representative  of  the  literary  study  which  disregards 
specialism  and  ranges  free  over  the  goodly  pastures  of  literature." — Saturday 
Review,  Feb.  27,  1892. 


LOWELL. 


57 


In  my  Junior  year,  a  lecture  of  Professor  Norton's  excited  in  me  a  wish  to 
read  Uante  under  Mr.  Lowell.  I  did  not  know  a  word  of  Italian,  though;  and 
I  was  firmly  resolved  to  waste  no  more  time  on  elementary  grammar.  With- 
out much  hope  of  a  favorable  reception,  then,  I  applied  for  admission  to  the 
course.  Mr.  Lowell  received  me  in  one  of  the  small  recitation-rooms  in 
the  upper  story  of  University  Hall.  .  .  .  He  listened  to  my  application 
kindly,  .  .  .  and  .  .  .  told  me  to  come  in  to  the  course  and  see  what  I 
could  do  with  Dante. 

To  that  time  my  experience  of  academic  teaching  had  led  me  to  the 
belief  that  the  only  way  to  study  a  classic  text  in  any  language  was  to 
scrutinize  every  syllable  with  a  care  undisturbed  by  consideration  of  any 
more  of  the  context  than  was  grammatically  related  to  it.  Any  real 
reading  I  had  done,  I  had  had  to  do  without  a  teacher.  Mr.  Lowell  never 
gave  us  less  than  a  canto  to  read  ;  and  often  gave  us  two  or  three.  He 
never,  from  the  beginning,  bothered  us  with  a  particle  of  linguistic  irrele- 
vance. Here  before  us  was  a  great  poem  —  a  lasting  expression  of  what 
human  life  had  meant  to  a  human  being,  dead  and  gone  these  five  centuries. 
Let  us  try,  as  best  we  might,  to  see  what  life  had  meant  to  this  man  ;  let  us 
see  what  relation  his  experience,  great  and  small,  bore  to  ours  ;  and,  now  and 
then,  let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  notice  how  wonderfully  beautiful  his 
expression  of  this  experience  was.  Let  us  read,  as  sympathetically  as  we 
could  make  ourselves  read,  the  words  of  one  who  was  as  much  a  man  as 
we,  only  vastly  greater  in  his  knowledge  of  wisdom  and  of  beauty.  That 
was  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Lowell's  teaching.  It  opened  to  some  of  us  a  new 
world.  In  a  month  I  could  read  Dante  better  than  I  ever  learned  to  read 
Greek,  or  Latin,  or  German. 

His  method  of  teaching  was  all  his  own.  The  class  was  small  —  not 
above  ten  or  a  dozen  ;  and  he  generally  began  by  making  each  student 
translate  a  few  lines,  interrupting  now  and  then  with  suggestions  of  the 
poetic  value  of  passages  which  were  being  rendered  in  a  style  too  exasper- 
atingly  prosaic.  Now  and  again,  some  word  or  some  passage  would 
suggest  to  him  a  line  of  thought — sometimes  very  earnest,  sometimes  para- 
doxically comical  —  that  it  would  never  have  suggested  to  any  one  else. 
And  he  would  lean  back  in  his  chair,  and  talk  away  across  country  till  he 
felt  like  stopping  ;  or  he  would  thrust  his  hands  into  the  pockets  of  his 
rather  shabby  sack-coat,  and  pace  the  end  of  the  room  with  his  heavy  laced 
boots,  and  look  at  nothing  in  particular,  and  discourse  of  things  in  general. 
We  gave  up  note-books  in  a  week.  Our  business  was  not  to  cram  lifeless 
detail,  but  to  absorb  as  much  as  we  might  of  the  spirit  of  his  exuberant 
literary  vitality.     And  through  it  all  he  was  always  a  quiz  ;  you  never  knew 


58  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

what  he  was  going  to  do  or  to  say  next.  One  whimsical  digression  I  have 
always  remembered,  chiefly  for  the  amiable  atrocity  of  the  pun.  Some 
mention  of  wings  had  been  made  in  the  text,  whereupon  Mr.  Lowell  ob- 
served that  he  had  always  had  a  liking  for  wings :  he  had  lately  observed 
that  some  were  being  added  to  the  ugliest  house  in  Cambridge,  and  he 
cherished  hopes  that  they  might  fly  away  with  it.  I  remember,  too,  how 
one  tremendous  passage  in  the  Inferno  started  him  off  in  a  disquisition 
concerning  canker-worms,  and  other  less  mentionable  —  if  more  diverting — 
vermin.  And  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  he  soared  up  into  the  clouds,  and 
pounced  down  on  the  text  again,  and  asked  the  next  man  to  translate.  You 
could  not  always  be  sure  when  he  was  in  earnest ;  but  there  was  never  a 
moment  when  he  let  you  forget  that  you  were  a  human  being  in  a  human 
world,  and  that  Dante  had  been  one,  too.  One  or  two  of  us,  among  our- 
selves, nicknamed  him  "sweet  wag  ";    I  like  the  name  still. 

After  a  month  or  two,  he  found  that  we  were  not  advancing  fast  enough. 
So  he  fell  into  a  way  of  making  us  read  one  canto  to  him,  and  then  reading 
the  next  to  us.  If  we  wished  to  interrupt  him,  we  were  as  free  to  do  so  as 
he  was  to  interrupt  us.  There  was  one  man  in  the  class,  I  remember,  who 
liked  to  read  out-of-the-way  books,  and  who  used  to  break  in  on  Mr. 
Lowell's  translation  with  questions  about  Gabriel  Harvey  and  other  such 
worthies,  rather  humorously  copying  Mr.  Lowell's  own  irrelevancies  ;  but  he 
could  never  get  hold  of  anything  so  out  of  the  way  that  Mr.  Lowell  had  not 
read  it,  or  at  least  could  not  talk  about  it  as  easily  as  if  he  had  read  it 
often.  So,  in  a  single  college  year,  we  read  through  the  Divine  Comedy, 
and  the  Vita  Nuova,  and  dipped  into  the  Convito  and  the  lesser  writings  of 
Dante.     And  more  than  one  of  us  learned  to  love  them  always. 

We  have  already  seen  how  many  attractions  Dante  had  for  Lowell. 
"The  more  you  study  him,"  says  he,  in  one  of  his  letters,  "the  more 
sides  you  find,  and  yet  the  ray  from  him  is  always  white  light.  I 
learn  continually  to  prize  him  more  as  man,  poet,  artist,  moralist,  and 
teacher."  As  a  man,  Dante  was  for  Lowell  the  preeminent  figure  of 
mediaeval  Italy,  and  he  sometimes  felt  that  Italian  history  of  that  day 
was  chiefly  of  value  so  far  as  it  furnished  material  for  explanatory 
footnotes  to  Dante's  greatest  work.  The  young  Florentine,  who 
upon  the  very  entrance  into  manhood  had  a  fixed  conception  of  the 
meaning  and  purport  of  life,  and  the  exile,  who  in  his  last  days  could 
build  out  of  his  broken  career  that  "three-arched  bridge,  still  firm 
against  the  wash  and  wear  of  ages,"  guided  and  inspired  him.     The 


LOWELL.  5g 

applicability  of  Dante's  teaching  to  the  practical  conduct  of  our 
own  lives,  the  fact  that  Dante's  poem  is  the  allegory  of  a  human 
life,  impressed  Lowell  very  strongly.  "Whatever  subsidiary  inter- 
pretations the  poem  is  capable  of,"  said  he,  "  its  great  and  primary 
value  is  as  the  autobiography  of  a  human  soul,  of  yours  and  mine  it 
may  be,  as  well  as  Dante's.  In  that  lie  its  profound  meaning  and 
its  permanent  force." 

As  a  moraUst  and  teacher,  Dante  stood  apart  in  Lowell's  mind  from 
the  other  truly  great  men  of  letter's.  Shakespeare  was  for  him  the 
most  comprehensive  intellect,  but  Dante  the  highest  spiritual  nature 
that  has  found  expression  in  rhythmical  form.  "Dante,"  says  he, 
"  penetrates  to  the  moral  core  of  those  who  once  fairly  come  within 
his  sphere,  and  possesses  them  wholly."  In  his  attitude  towards  this 
chosen  hero  of  his,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  graver  side  of  Lowell's 
nature,  a  phase  in  his  well-rounded  character  which  readers  often  lose 
sight  of,  through  the  abounding  fun  and  wit  they  find  within  his  _^ 
pages.^  Lowell  was  true  to  his  New  England  inheritance,  and  he 
shares  with  her  other  representative  writers  their  healthy  moral  tone.  ^'  I 
He  and  Longfellow  had  much  in  common  in  their  appreciation  of  ' 
Dante  ;  the  elevating  and  sustaining  influence  of  the  Divine  Comedy 
was  deeply  felt  by  both  of  them.  It  was  when  he  mourned  the  death 
of  his  wife  that  Longfellow  turned  for  solace  to  the  translating  of 
Dante.  Lowell  speaks  of  loving  Dante  because  "  he  is  not  merely  a 
great  poet,  but  an  influence,  part  of  the  soul's  resources  in  time  of 
trouble."  With  the  sacred  imagery  and  religious  tone  of  Longfel-  y^ 
low's  sonnets  on  translating  the  Divina  Commedia,  compare  the  fol- 
lowing words  from  Lowell :  "  As  the  Gothic  cathedral,  then,  is  the 
type  of  the  Christian  idea,  so  is  it  also  of  Dante's  poem,  .  .  .  Com- 
plete and  harmonious  in  design  as  his  work  is,  it  is  yet  no  pagan 
temple  enshrining  a  type  of  the  human  made  divine  by  triumph  of 
corporeal  beauty ;  it  is  not  a  private  chapel  housing  a  single  saint 
and  dedicated  to  one  chosen  bloom  of  Christian  piety  or  devotion  ;  it 

1 "  Mr.  Lowell,  the  jester,  though  he  keeps  slyly  nudging  Mr.  Lowell,  the  critic, 
and  occasionally  interrupting  his  master's  serious  discourse  with  the  privileged 
impertinence  of  motley,  is  still  a  person  of  secondary  interest,  and  it  is  with  his 
master's  utterances  that  we  are  chiefly  concerned."  —  William  Watson,  Exansions 
in  Criticism. 


6o  DANTE   IN  AMERICA. 

is  truly  a  cathedral,  over  whose  altar  hangs  the  emblem  of  suffering, 
of  the  divine  made  human,  to  teach  the  beauty  of  adversity,  the 
eternal  presence  of  the  spiritual,  —  not  overhanging  and  threatening, 
but  informing  and  sustaining  the  material.  In  this  cathedral  of 
Dante's  there  are  side-chapels,  as  is  fit,  with  altars  to  all  Christian 
virtues  and  perfections;  but  the  great  impression  of  its  leading  thought 
is  that  of  aspiration,  forever  and  ever.  In  the  three  divisions  of  the 
poem  we  may  trace  something  more  than  a  fancied  analogy  with  a 
Christian  basilica.  There  is,  first,  the  ethnic  forecourt,  then  the  pur- 
gatorial middle  space,  and  last  the  holy  of  holies  dedicated  to  the 
eternal  presence  of  the  mediatorial  God."  Lowell's  worship  of  Dante 
was  never  blind  adoration  ;  the  critic  within  him  never  slumbered, 
else  he  could  not  have  so  laid  hold  of  the  essential  traits  of  his 
author.  He  saw  clearly,  that  though  Dante  was  a  great  figure  in  the 
thought  and  statesmanship  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  it  was  as 
poet  that  he  had  the  strongest  claim  upon  posterity.  Underlying  the 
many-sided  character  of  Dante,  Lowell  always  saw  the  poet,  "  irra- 
diating and  vivifying,  gleaming  through  in  a  picturesque  phrase,  or 
touching  things  unexpectedly  with  that  ideal  light  which  softens  and 
subdues  like  distance  in  the  landscape."  Making  every  deduction 
for  the  dry  patches  of  mediaeval  physics  and  metaphysics  in  the 
Divma  Commedia,  Lowell  considered  Dante  the  first  of  descriptive 
as  well  as  of  moral  poets. 


CHARLES    ELIOT    NORTON. 

The  last  American  Dante  student  of  whom  we  shall  speak  is  Mr» 
Norton,  the  friend  of  the  three  New  England  interpreters  whose 
work  we  have  just  been  reviewing,  and  himself  a  careful  translator 
of  Dante.  Though  the  present  occasion  does  not  admit  of  a  detailed 
account  of  Mr.  Norton's  services  toward  the  spreading  of  Dantesque 
studies  in  America,  yet  our  sketch  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  passing  reference  to  his  work  in  this  field. 

Mr.  Norton's  earliest  contribution  to  Dante  literature  appeared  in 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  for    1859,  and  consisted  of  an  essay  on  the 


NORTON.  6 1 

Vita  Nuova,  accompanied  by  specimen  translations.  In  1867  the 
completed  translation  was  published,  together  with  some  additional 
comment.  At  that  time  the  Vita  Nuova  was  just  beginning  to 
receive  the  attention  from  English  students  warranted  by  its  impor- 
tance in  Dante's  literary  history  and  development,  and  Mr.  Norton's 
volume  was  therefore  welcome.^  It  is  more  literal  than  Rossetti's 
version,  with  which  it  was  almost  contemporaneous.  In  1891-92 
Mr.  Norton  published  a  prose  translation  of  the  Divina  Commedia, 
—  a  translation  in  which  the  principles  of  his  early  work  again  rule. 

It  is  only  of  recent  years  that  the  literal  prose  rendering  of 
poetical  work  has  received  due  recognition  from  the  literary  critic. 
Early  associations  act  as  powerful  sources  of  prejudice,  and  there 
are  many  who  after  their  college  days  are  unable  to  regard  a  prose 
version  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  "crib."  This  is  unjust  to 
such  excellent  work  as  the  translations  of  Homer  by  Butcher,  Leaf, 
Lang,  Myers,  and  Palmer,  and  of  Dante  by  Carlyle,  Butler,  and 
Norton.  Some  of  these  men  are  masters  of  English  prose,  but  this 
is  not  the  prime  reason  for  their  adoption  of  it  as  the  vehicle  of 
their  authors'  thoughts.  They  all  grant  that  they  leave  unattempted 
half  the  problem  of  translation,  but  it  is  from  no  want  of  effort,  no 
slackness  of  endeavor;  they  have  chosen  prose  rather  from  a  press- 
ing sense  that  the  charm  which  the  genius  of  the  poet  has  given  to 
his  verse  is  intransmutable.  Yet  the  best  of  these  translators  into 
prose  pay  great  attention  to  their  English,  and  endeavor  to  please 
the  ear  while  satisfying  the  exacting  mind  of  a  realistic  age.  The 
absence  of  care  about  rhythm  and  rhyme  makes  it  possible  for  a 
literal  prose  translation  to  be  so  much  easier  of  comprehension  and 
assimilation  at  the  first  reading. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  all  the  translators  of  Dante  into 
English  prose,  even  with  their  divergent  conceptions  as  to  the  best 
means  of  attaining  a  common  end,  pay  tribute  to  Dr.  John  Carlyle, 
the  first  to  enter  the  field.     Appreciating  the  excellence  of  Dr.  Car- 


1  The  earliest  complete  translation  of  the  Vita  Nuova  into  English  was  that  by 
Joseph  Garrow,  published  in  Florence  in  1846.  Dean  Plumptre,  with  character- 
istic carelessness,  speaks  of  the  translator  as  an  American.  Mr.  Francis  Boott, 
of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  who  knew  Garrow  in  Florence,  assures  me  there  is  no 
doubt  of  Garrow  having  been  an  Irishman. 


62  DANTE  IN  AMERICA. 

lyle's  rendering  of  the  Inferno;  Mr.  Butler  began  his  translation  with 
the  second  canticle.  Dugdale's  Ftirgatorio  was  undertaken  in  the 
hope  that  it  might  serve  as  a  companion  volume  to  Dr.  Carlyle's  In- 
ferno. '*  Had  Dr.  Carlyle  made  a  version  of  the  whole  poem,"  says 
Professor  Norton  in  his  preface,  "  I  should  hardly  have  cared  to 
attempt  a  new  one.  His  conception  of  what  a  translation  should  be 
is  very  much  the  same  as  my  own."  Of  the  barrenness  of  prose 
as  a  medium  for  thoughts  born  of  a  poet's  mind  and  couched  in 
the  noblest  verse,  no  one  could  be  more  conscious  than  Professor 
Norton,  and  he  translates  with  the  hope  that  the  "  imagination  may 
mould  the  prose  as  it  moulded  the  verse." 

For  the  past  ten  years  Mr.  Norton  has  given  instruction  in  Dante 
as  part  of  his  regular  duties  of  Professor  in  Harvard  College.  In 
1894  he  delivered  the  Turnbull  Lectures  on  poetry  at  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  choosing  Dante  for  his  theme. 

A  few  more  indications  of  the  hold  which  Dante  has  taken  on 
American  scholarship  and  we  are  done  with  this  part  of  our  subject. 
That  America  should  have  the  oldest  of  the  existing  Dante  societies 
is  a  flattering  proof  of  the  seriousness  of  the  interest  shown  here  in 
his  work.  Mr.  Norton  was  one  of  its  founders ;  the  Dante  books 
which  he  had  collected  for  his  own  use  were  given  to  the  Harvard 
College  Library,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  collection  since 
maintained  by  the  Dante  Society.  By  the  support  and  encourage- 
ment which  this  society  gave  to  the  publication  of  Dr.  Fay's 
"  Concordance,"  it  has  earned  the  gratitude  of  all  students.  This 
monument  of  diligence  and  care  is  an  achievement  of  which  the 
compiler  can  well  feel  proud.  "  I  have  often  thought,"  writes  Dr. 
Moore,  "  that  the  most  generally  useful  commentary  on  the  Divina 
Commedia  in  existence  is  the  invaluable  '  Concordance '  of  Dr.  Fay."  ^ 
Scartazzini,  who  admits  with  gratitude  that  he  daily  finds  need  to 
consult  this  work,  says  that  "  its  value  can  only  be  recognized  and 
estimated  after  a  lengthened  use  of  it.  It  is  certain  that  this  at  any 
rate  will  never  grow  dusty  in  the  library  of  a  student  of  Dante." 

Americans  have  made  many  other  contributions  of  a  varied  nature 
to  Dantean  literature,  mostly  livres  de  vulgarisation;  but  the  future 

1  "  Studies  in  Dante,"  1896,  p.  45. 


CONCLUSION.  63 

should  be  more  productive  than  the  past.  The  scholar  of  to-day 
has  vastly  greater  facilities  for  carrying  on  his  researches  in  America 
than  had  the  student  of  a  generation  —  yes,  or  even  a  decade  ago. 
The  Dante  library  at  Harvard  is  now  not  his  only  rich  resource.  At 
Cornell  University  the  student  can  find  what  is  in  some  respects  the 
most  remarkable  Dante  collection  in  the  world.  Books  have  been 
gathered  there  from  the  four  quarters  to  take  their  place  in  the  cos- 
mopolitan literature  of  the  Divina  Commedia  and  its  author ;  its 
all-round  completeness  and  bibliographical  rarities  are  a  delight  to 
both  the  student  and  bibliophile.  The  donor,  Mr.  Willard  Fiske, 
has  said  in  a  private  letter  of  recent  date:  "My  own  collection  is  a 
surprise  even  to  myself.  I  began  it  with  the  idea  of  sending  to 
Cornell  some  two  or  three  hundred  of  the  more  useful  Dante  works, 
that  the  student  might  have  at  least  something  to  begin  on.  But  my 
interest  grew  as  the  books  turned  up,  until  the  collection  became 
what  it  is."  Then,  too,  the  rich  Italian  library  of  the  late  Francis 
C.  Macauley  has  recently  been  bequeathed  to  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  and,  with  its  wealth  of  early  editions,  may  be  expected 
to  fill  out  in  some  measure  the  unavoidable  gaps  of  the  other  two 
American  collections. 

Thus  happily  situated,  Americans  ought  to  grow  familiar  with 
Dante;  but,  as  Lowell  said,  his  life  and  work  have  in  them  a  meaning 
of  such  depth  as  "few  men  have  meaning  enough  in  themselves 
wholly  to  penetrate."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  hope  of 
Dante  ever  taking  the  place  of  a  popular  author  with  us,  of  be- 
coming one  of  our  intimates.  He  would  leave  us  a  sense  of  the 
emptiness  of  much  of  that  which  we  make  our  boast,  and  would 
teach  us  the  instability  of  national  position  and  the  permanence  of 
moral  worth  alone.  But  the  great  reading  public  cares  little  for 
instruction,  and  is  given  to  avoiding  those  books  in  which  it  suspects 
reproof  or  correction.  Those,  however,  who  have  come  within  the 
spell  of  Dante's  poetry,  his  thought,  and  his  ideals,  are  conscious 
of  the  enrichment  of  their  lives  and  the  ennobling  of  their  own 
aspirations. 


APPENDIX. 

I.     CRITIQUE  ON    CERTAIN    PASSAGES    IN   DANTE.  —  Da  Ponte. 

First  Paper.^ 

In  the  course  of  my  investigations  of  the  difficulties  which  the  language 
and  manner  of  Dante  occasionally  present,  I  have  been  led  to  believe  that 
in  ten  or  twelve  instances  at  least,  in  the  Inferno  alone,  modes  of  interpre- 
tation might  be  offered  which  would  reconcile  the  objections  of  the  critics, 
and  remove  all  doubts  of  the  meaning  of  the  author.  Of  these  I  now  sub- 
join the  first,  reserving  the  others  for  another  opportunity. 

Inf.  i.  29-30. 

Ripresi  via  per  la  piaggia  deserta, 

Sicche  11  pie  fermo  sempre  era  il  piu  basso. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  actual  situation,  position,  and  movement  of 
Dante,  we  ought  to  go  back  to  verse  1 3  : 

Ma  poi  ch'  io  fui  appie  del  coUe  giunto 
L^  eve  terminava  quella  valle, 

and  to  give  to  the  expression  appie  del  colle  a  signification  similar  to  that 
conveyed  by  the  following  line  from  one  of  Petrarch's  sonnets : 

Appie  de'  colli  ove  la  bella  vesta. 

1  "  We  recommend  to  the  curious  in  Italian  literature,  and  particularly  to  the 
admirers  of  the  Divina  Commedia,  the  following  proposed  interpretations  of 
several  very  difficult  passages  in  the  Inferno  of  Dante.  They  are  decidedly  the 
best  explanations  we  have  seen  of  the  passages  referred  to,  on  which,  by  the  way, 
whole  volumes  have  been  written.  With  regard  to  the  new  reading  of  che  i  for 
cK'  ei,  the  merest  novice  in  Italian  will  acknowledge  the  improvement ;  and  it  is 
really  surprising  that  a  correction  so  simple,  and  so  perfectly  satisfactory,  should 
not  have  been  suggested  by  any  of  the  Dantesque  commentators,  who  for  five 
hundred  years  have  been  striving  to  outdo  each  other  in  variae  lectiones  and  new 
interpretations.  The  other  explanations  are  ingenious  and  most  probably  correct." 
—  [Editorial  note  in  the  N'ew  York  Review  and  Athenceum  Magazine,  probably  by 
Anderson.] 


APPENDIX. 


6S 


Here  every  one  will  admit  that  the  poet  does  not  speak  of  a  place  actually 

adjoining,  but  merely  of  a  place  very  near  the  foot  of  the  hills,  in  which 

place  Laura  was  born,  and  where,  too,  the  five  ^ernici,  supposed  to  be 

referred  to  by  the  poet,  ranged  while  they  lived  "  unhindered  and  unhurt." 

There  appear  to  me  to  be  two   good   reasons  for  this  interpretation. 

First,  Dante  in  order  to  express  perfect  contact,  makes  use  elsewhere  of  a 

much  stronger  expression.     I  refer  to  the  1 34th  verse  of  the  1 7th  canto  of 

the  Inferno. 

Apple  appie  della  stagliata  rocca. 

Secondly,  if  Dante  had  been  actually  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  he  could  not  possibly  have  seen  its  summit ^  "clad  in  the  sun's 
bright  rays."  Let  us  now  examine  how  this  construction  agrees  with  the 
context. 

Dante,  "  in  the  middle  of  the  way  of  life,"  finds  himself  in  the  forest  of 
Error,  He  cannot  tell  how  he  came  there,  but  merely  recollects  that  a 
moment  previous  he  was  "  oppressed  with  sleep,"  that  is,  in  a  state  of  intel- 
lectual unconsciousness,  arising  from  the  violence  of  his  passions.  In  this 
"  rugged,  wild,  and  gloomy  "  forest,  he  loses  his  way  and  soon  after  finds 
himself  (he  either  will  not  or  cannot  tell  how)  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  bound- 
ing this  valley  or  forest.  Alarmed  at  this,  he  raises  his  eyes  to  the  summit 
of  the  hill  and  there  sees  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Allor  fu  la  paura  un  poco 
queta,  and  he  turns  round  to  look  upon  the  pass  che  non  lascib  giammai 
persona  viva,  that  is,  lascio  passar,  or  in  other  words,  the  pass  which  no 
living  soul  ever  omitted  or  was  exempted  from  passing.     Then 

Riprese  via  per  la  piaggia  deserta, 

and  this  brings  us  to  the  difficulty. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  persuade  me  that  \ks\s>  piaggia  deserta  means  the 
beginning  of  the  ascent.  Dante  says  expressly  that  he  resumed  his  pre- 
vious way,  or  walked  again  along  the  piaggia, 

Sicche  il  pie  fermo  sempre  era  il  piu  basso, 

and  then  began  to  ascend.     This  ascent  is,  moreover,  announced  by  an 
emphatic  Ed  ecco,  denoting  that  then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the  rise  begin. 
To  conclude  — 

Ripresi  via  per  la  piaggia  deserta, 

1  Spalle  certainly  means  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  not  the  quasi  sommita,  as 
Biagioli  wishes  us  to  believe  ;  because  if  the  sun's  rays  had  reached  the  side  of 
the  hill,  the  forest  would  not  have  been  dark,  nor  would  the  poet  have  been 
obliged  to  raise  his  eyes  to  see  the  light.  —  Da  P. 


66  APPENDIX. 

I  resumed  my  way  along  the  solitary  plain  (where  alone  //  pi^  fermo 
sempre  i  il  piU  basso),  and  walked  toward  the  hill,  —  that  is,  toward  the 
seat  of  truth  ;  but  in  such  a  way  that  my  firm  foot  was  always  lower  than 
the  other.  This  I  take  to  mean  :  I  still  continued  in  the  path  of  error,  not 
daring  to  ascend  the  hill  of  truth.  After  going  a  short  distance,  and  just 
as  I  had  reached  the  beginning  of  the  rise,  my  further  progress  is  opposed 
by  Pleasure,  Pride,  and  Avarice,  so  much  so  that  (to  repeat  Dante's  y^«  de 
mots)^ 

Back  to  return  at  every  turn  I  turned. 

In  this  way  the  literal  sense  is  abundantly  perspicuous,  and  the  allegorical 
extremely  apt  and  beautiful.^ 

Second  Paper.* 

Among  the  arguments  I  offered,  in  my  last  communication,  to  support 
the  interpretation  I  proposed,  of  the  30th  line  of  the  1st  canto  of  Dante's 
Inferno^  I  omitted  to  call  your  attention  to  the  31st  line  : 

And  lo  !  not  far  from  the  hill's  first  ascent, 

^  It  is  not  Da  Ponte's  intention  to  xazk^  piaggia  the  equivalent  oi  piano,  which 
ordinarily  is  its  direct  opposite  in  meaning,  but  to  interpret  the  word  in  its  poetical 
signification  of  "  quasivoglia  luogo."  In  this  sense,  as  is  remarked  in  the  "  Voca- 
bolario  degli  Accademici  della  Crusca,"  the  word  is  equivalent  to  the  VaXvaplaga 
tractus,  or  the  Greek  x'^P«»  ^J^d  is  used  thus  in  Petrarch's  lines  : 

Cesare  taccio,  che  per  ogni  piaggia 

Fece  1'  erbe  sanguigne, 
and  again 

Consumando  mi  vo  di  piaggia  in  piaggia 

II  di  pensoso,  poi  piango  la  notte. 

Dante  uses  the  word  half  a  dozen  times  in  the  Commedia,  thrice  in  an  unmistak- 
able sense.  From  its  primary  meaning  of  hillside  or  slope,  the  word  derives  its 
secondary  meaning  of  the  bank  of  a  river  or  the  shore  of  an  ocean  ;  it  occurs  with 
the  latter  signification  in  Inf.  iii.  92,  Purg.  ii.  50,  xvii.  78.  Da  Ponte  would,  of 
course,  translate  the  piaggia  of  Inf.  ii.  62,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  line  in 
the  first  canto.     The  only  other  occurrence  of  the  word  in  the  Commedia  is  in 

Purg.  iv.  34-35  : 

Poichfe  noi  fummo  in  su  1'  orlo  supremo 
Dell'  alta  ripa,  alia  scoverta  piaggia. 

By  different  commentators  and  translators  scoverta  piaggia  here  has  been  variously 
understood  as  referring  to  the  ridge  of  the  mountain  in  full  view,  the  unobstructed 
mountain  side  or  slope,  and  the  open  country  or  lea  beyond.  —  T.  W.  K. 

2  «'  We  again  call  the  attention  of  amateurs  to  this  critique.  In  the  present  in- 
stance the  explanation  offered  is  one  of  the  happiest  we  have  ever  seen." —  [Eds.] 


APPENDIX. 


67 


which  not  only  points  out  the  place  of  the  first  appearance  of  the  panther, 
but  shows  conclusively  that  Dante  had  not  yet  reached  the  "  cominciar  dell' 
erta,"  —  the  beginning  or  foot  of  the  ascent ;  because  the  interjection  ecco  is 
almost  always  used  to  denote  the  time  and  place  of  the  first  appearance  of 
a  new  object,  or  the  first  occurrence  of  a  new  event.  If  Dante  was 
prevented  from  going  further  by  the  "  panther,"  when  this  panther  was  only 
"  quasi  al  cominciar  dell'  erta,"  it  follows,  of  course,  that  Dante  had  not  yet 
arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  his  progress  toward  it  being  intercepted  by 
the  panther. 

I  now  pass  on  to  another  passage  which  appears  to  me  to  have  been 
strangely  misunderstood. 

Inf.  iii.  109-111. 

Caron  dimonio,  con  occhi  di  bragia 
Loro  accennando  tutte  le  raccoglie, 
Batte  col  remo  qualunque  s'  adagia. 

The  commentators  have  uniformly  made  batte  an  active  verb,  and  have 
agreed  to  consider  this  last  line  as  meaning  that  Charon,  impatient  at  the 
delay, 

Beats  soundly  with  his  oar  the  loitering  shades  ! 

Let  us  see  how  this  strange  commentary  is  supported  by  the  context.  At 
verse  71,  Dante,  seeing  a  great  number  of  souls  collecting  on  the  bank  of 
a  river,  turns  to  his  conductor,  saying, 

Master,  give  me  to  know  what  souls  are  these, 
And  what  is  that  which  makes  them  seem  (for  so 
Even  through  this  feeble  light  to  me  they  seem) 
In  such  swift  haste  to  pass  from  shore  to  shore. 

At  verses  1 1 1 ,  117,  these  souls,  which  according  to  the  commentators 
require  the  stimulus  of  Charon's  oar  (a  long  oar,  by  the  way,  he  must  have 
had),  are  described  in  the  beautiful  similitudes  of  Dante,  as  hastening  to 
the  boat 

Like  autumn  foliage  dropping  to  the  ground. 

Or  falcons  stooping  to  the  fowler's  call.i 

Again,  at  verse  1 24,  Virgil  says  that  these  lazy  souls  who,  like  asses  at  a 

1  Come  d'  autunno  si  levan  le  foglie 

L'  una  appresso  dell'  altra,  infin  che  '1  ramo 
Rende  alia  terra  tutte  le  sue  spoglie  ; 
Similemente  il  mal  seme  d'  Adamo 
Gittansi  di  quel  lito  ad  una  ad  una 
Per  cenni,  com'  augel  per  suo  richiamo. 


68  APPENDIX, 

ferry,  must,  it  seems,  be  beaten  with  an  oar  to  make  them  move,  are  always 
eager  to  get  over  ;  because,  to  use  the  poet's  own  strong  language. 

The  justice  of  their  Judge  so  pricks  them  on, 
That  fear  is  lost  in  longing. 

Surely  such  a  commentary  has  no  need  of  comment.  The  following  is  the 
explanation  I  would  offer.     Charon,  says  the  poet. 

With  eyes  of  fire  and  guiding  glance  of  sign, 
Gathers  them  all  together. 

With  what  sign?  The  answer,  one  would  think,  was  obvious  enough  : 
"the  grim  ferryman"  batte  col  remo^  strikes  with  his  oar,  —  and  then  — 
qualunque  s'  adagia  —  each  one  takes  his  seat  in  Charon's  barque,^  and 
that  willingly,  and  even  eagerly  ;  because,  in  the  words  of  Dante,  above 

translated, 

La  divina  giustizia  gli  sprona 
SI  che  la  tema  si  volge  in  disio.^ 

Third  Paper. 
Inf.  v.  77-78. 

Vedrai  quando  saranno 
Piii  press©  a  noi ;  e  tu  allor  gli  prega 
Per  queir  amor  ch'  ei  mena  ;  e  quel  verranno. 

Thou  shalt  see, 
When  they  are  nearer ;  then  adjure  them  by 
That  love  which  is  their  lord,  and  they  will  come. 

Venturi  tells  us  that  ei  is  here  taken  in  the  sense  of  eglmoj  but  yet,  he  adds 
with  great  gravity,  you  cannot  say  eino  instead  of  eglinoj  whereupon  he  utters 
maledictions  against  the  absurdities  of  grammar.  Volpi,  I  believe,  has 
closed  his  eyes  upon  this  passage,  as  well  as  the  Avignon  editor,*  who  on 

1  This  is  certainly  one  of  the  significations  of  adagiarsi,  which  means  not  only 
to  walk  adagio  or  slowly,  but  to  sit  a  suo  agio  —  at  one's  ease  —  in  a  convenient 
or  reclining  posture.  This  is,  in  all  probability,  the  meaning  of  the  word  as  it 
occurs  in  Petrarch,  Part  I,  Canzone  v,  st.  iii,  v.  10, 

II  Pastor,  etc., 

Ivi  senza  pensier  s'  adagia  e  dorme.  —  Da  P. 

2  For  a  recent  statement  of  the  various  interpretations  of  this  passage,  see  the 
chapter  on  "  L'  adagiarsi  delle  anime  "  in  O.  Antognoni's  "  Saggio  di  studj  sopra 
la  Commedia  di  Dante,"  Livorno,  1893,  and  the  discussion  occasioned  by  G. 
Marufii's  note  in  "  Giornale  dantesco,"  1893,  ^^^'  ^'  PP-  217-218.  —  T.  W.  K. 

*  "  La  divina  commedia,  con  argomenti  ed  annotazioni  scelte  dai  migliori  com- 
mentatori."     Avignone,  18 16.     3  vol.     24°. 


APPENDIX.  69 

more  occasions  than  one  shows  himself  marvelously  clever  in  getting  around 
a  difficulty.  Lombardi  has  recourse  to  a  ridiculous  paraphrasis,i  and 
Biagioli  thinks  cK'  ei  mena  means  ch'  ei  menu  msieme,  which  might  answer 
if  we  make  ei  the  nominative  case  singular,  referring  to  ainore.  It  is 
certainly  very  singular,  that  amidst  such  a  variety  of  explanations,  not  a 
commentator  among  them  all  appears  to  have  suspected  the  interpretation 
which  I  take  to  be  undoubtedly  the  true  one,  and  which  one  would  think  is 
almost  as  obvious  as  it  is  completely  satisfactory.  To  have  the  right  read- 
ing, it  is  not  necessary  to  alter  a  letter  or  a  stop  ;  in  the  word  ei  detach  the 
i  from  the  e  and  everything  is  clear  : 

E  tu  gli  prega 
Per  queir  amor  che  i  mena,  e  quel  verranno.^ 

The  pronoun  i  is  then  in  the  objective  case  plural,  for  li  or  gli.,  and  this  is 
so  far  from  being  a  harsh  construction  that  we  have  the  authority  of  Dante 
himself  for  this  identical  license  : 

La  sconoscente  vita  che  i  fe  sozzi. 

Inf.  vu.  53.  , 

In  the  same  way  another  sentence,  which  has  been  considered  an  obscure 
one,  is  made  perfectly  intelligible.  Let  the  i8th  verse  of  the  i8th  canto  of 
the  Inferno  be  printed  thus  : 

Infino  al  pozzo  che  i  tronca  e  raccogli ; 

and  all  the  forced  and  far-fetched  explanations  of  the  commentators  fall  to 
the  ground  as  useless  or  absurd. 

Inf.  ix.  7-8. 

Pure  a  noi  converra  vincer  la  pugna, 

Comminci6  ei  —  se  non  —  tal  ne  s'  offerse.  , 

1  "  Sincope  d'  elli,  adoperato  dagli  antichi  nel  retto  case  e  nell'  obbliquo,  equi- 
vale  qui  a  loro,  — ch'  ei  mena,  dice  cosi  invece  di  dire,  cW  e  loro  cagione  d''  essere  da 
quell  a  bufera  dtmenati." 

2  This  reading  is  now  quite  generally  adopted.  Barlolommeo  Perazzini  gave 
it  in  his  "  Corectiones  et  adnotationes,"  originally  published  in  1775,  in  a  miscel- 
laneous volume  long  since  a  rarity,  and  reprinted  by  Scolari  in  his  "  Intorno  alle 
Epistole  latine  di  Dante,"  Venice,  1844.  "  Sic  legendum  censet,"  says  Perazzini, 
"erud.  Joseph  Thomasellius  heic  et  ubique  similis  locus  occurrat,  cum  nusquam  ei 
occusativum  invenire  sit.     Et  quidem  apud  Vellutellum  ita  legimus: 

Per  queir  amore,  che  i  mena,  et  ei  verranno." 
Since  about  1835,  in  the  case  of  the  passage  cited  by  Da  Ponte,  as  well  as  in  the 
similar  ones  of  Par.  xii.  26,  and  xxix.  4,  che  i  has  been  given  in  all  but  the  care- 
lessly edited  texts  and  the  reprints  of  old  works.  —  T.  W.  K. 


70  APPENDIX. 

The  commentators,  without  exception,  consider  the  pronoun  tal  as  referring 
here  to  Beatrice.  With  all  due  respect  to  that  "  donna  gentile,"  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  the  Angel  is  the  person  here  alluded  to,  and  that  for  three 
reasons :  First,  because  the  lady  Beatrice  did  not  offer  any  personal  assist- 
ance to  Dante,  but  merely  solicited  in  his  behalf  the  services  of  Virgil,  and, 
after  having  thus  addressed  him. 

Or  muovi,  e  con  la  tua  parola  ornata 
E  con  ci6  ch'  e  mestieri  al  sue  compare 
L'  ajuta  si  ch'  io  ne  sia  consolata, 

she  then  told  him  her  name  and  her  desire  to  return  to  the  place  she  had 
left,  and  concluded  by  assuring  him  that  she  would  not  forget  to  speak 
well  of  him  when  she  went  back  to  Heaven. 

Quando  sar6  d'  avanti  al  Signer  mio 
Di  te  mi  loder6  sovente  a  lui. 

Secondly,  because  ne  j'  offerse  does  not  so  much  signify  "  offered  her  assist- 
ance," as  "made  her  appearance  to  us,"  and  seems  to  have  reference  to  the 

passage, 

E  gik  di  quk  da  lei  discende  1'  erta 

Passando  per  li  cerchi  senza  scorta 

Tal  che  per  lui  ci  fia  la  terra  aperta. 

And  thirdly,  because  tal  ne  j'  offerse^  with  ne  in  the  plural  number,  is 
scarcely  compatible  with  the  interpretation  hitherto  received,  but  peculiarly 
appropriate  to  the  one  I  have  proposed.  Beatrice  appeared  only  to  Virgil, 
but  the  Angel  was  then  descending  to  present  himself  before  Virgil  while 
Dante  was  with  him,  as  appears  by  the  verses  we  have  quoted  above. 

How  the  aposiopesis,  se  non,  is  to  be  supplied,  it  is  perhaps  not  very 
easy  to  determine.  But  it  is  probable  that  Virgil  was  on  the  point  of  say- 
ing something  disagreeable  to  Dante,  or  at  least  calculated  to  increase  his 
apprehensions  ;  for  instance,  "  if  Beatrice  has  not  deceived  us,"  "  if  Heaven 
has  not  altered  its  decrees,"  or  something  similar  ;  and  then  suddenly  cor- 
recting himself,  or  recollecting  the  promises  of  the  Angel,  finished  his 
sentence  in  the  tone  and  language  of  encouragement. 

I  add  a  short  remark  on  the  third  line  of  the  first  canto : 

Che  la  diritta  via  era  smarrita. 

To  say  that  che  has  in  this  place  the  meaning  of  talmente  che  ox  perocchi 
ox  perch} ^  which  is  the  explanation  almost  universally  given,  is  certainly  a 
mistake.  Biagioli  is  the  only  annotator  who  has  pointed  out  the  error  and 
inconsistency  of  this  interpretation.  He  agrees  with  Volpi  that  there  is 
here  an  ellipsis  of  the  preposition  /;/,  but  neither  he  nor  Volpi  adduce  any 


APPENDIX.  71 

classical  authority  for  the  use  of  che  in  the  sense  of  in  che.  There  exists, 
however,  a  remarkable  and  conclusive  instance  of  this  kind  in  Petrarch, 
Part  I,  son,  ii,  v.  i  : 

Era  11  giorno  che  al  Sol  si  scoloraro. 
Dante  himself  furnishes  another  example,  Inf.  i.  1 1  : 

Tanto  era  pien  di  sonno  in  su  quel  punto 

Che  la  verace  via  abbandonai.  t     t~v      t» 

L.  Da  Ponte. 

II.     WILLIAM    HICKLING   PRESCOTT. 

Da  Ponte  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  everything  Italian,  and  he 
fervently  resented  any  imputations,  fancied  or  real,  upon  the  honor 
of  his  native  country,  whether  it  concerned  letters,  music,  manners, 
or  morals.  So  sensitive  was  he  in  this  matter  that  at  the  time  of  the 
trial  of  Queen  Caroline,  when  aspersions  were  cast  upon  the  Italian 
character,  he  felt  called  upon  to  address  an  ode  to  George  IV;  and  again 
in  1824  when  our  own  historian,  Prescott,  published  in  the  North 
American  Review  an  article  on  "Italian  Narrative  Poetry,"  Da  Ponte 
thought  he  saw  a  slighting  estimate  of  the  genius  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  forthwith  issued  a  reply.  That  Da  Ponte  misunder- 
stood the  position  taken  by  Prescott  is  plainly  evident  to  us  of  to-day, 
and  that  Prescott  had  a  real  fondness  for  the  Italian  authors  his 
writings  and  letters  go  to  show.  One  of  these  letters  is  concerned 
with  his  first  impressions  of  Dante,  and  I  shall  cite  a  considerable 
portion  of  it,  because  of  its  interest  as  one  of  the  earliest  American 
estimates  of  the  great  Florentine.  The  letter  is  dated  1824,  and  was 
written  to  George  Ticknor,  who  printed  it  in  his  biography  of  his 
friend,  stating  that  Prescott  "  never  ceased  to  talk  of  Dante  in  the 
same  tone  of  admiration  in  which  he  thus  broke  forth  in  the  first 
study  of  him,  —  a  noteworthy  circumstance,  because  owing  to  the 
imperfect  vision  that  so  crippled  and  curtailed  his  studies,  he  was 
never  afterwards  able  to  refresh  his  first  impressions,  except,  as  he 
did  it  from  time  to  time,  by  reading  a  few  favorite  passages,  or  lis- 
tening to  them."  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  is  but  a  familiar 
letter  to  a  friend,  and  though  the  writer  must  have  given  the  subject 
some  thought,  he  himself  would  doubtless  have  polished  and  revised 
his  estimate  before  printing  it. 


72  APPENDIX. 

I  have  finished  the  Paradiso  of  Dante,  and  feel  as  if  I  had  made  a  most 
important  addition  to  the  small  store  of  my  acquisitions.  To  have  read  the 
Inferno  is  not  to  have  read  Dante  ;  his  genius  shows  itself  under  so  very 
different  an  aspect  in  each  of  his  three  poems.  The  Inferno  will  always  be 
the  most  popular,  because  it  is  the  most  —  indeed  the  only  one  that  is  at 
all  —  entertaining.  Human  nature  is  so  delightfully  constituted  that  it  can 
never  derive  half  the  pleasure  from  any  relation  of  happiness  that  it  does 
from  one  of  misery  and  extreme  suffering.  Then  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
narrative,  of  action  in  the  Inferno^  and  very  little  in  the  two  other  parts. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  I  think  the  impression  produced  on  the  mind  of 
the  reader  by  the  two  latter  portions  of  the  work  much  the  most  pleasing. 
You  impute  a  finer,  a  more  exquisite  (I  do  not  mean  a  more  powerful), 
intellectual  character  to  the  poet,  and,  to  my  notion,  a  character  more  deeply 
touched  with  a  true  poetical  feeling. 

The  Inferno  consists  of  a  series  of  pictures  of  the  most  ingenious,  the 
most  acute,  and  sometimes  the  most  disgusting  bodily  sufferings.  I  could 
wish  that  Dante  had  made  more  use  of  the  mind  as  a  source  and  a  means  of 
anguish.  Once  he  has  done  it  with  beautiful  effect,  in  the  description  of  a 
Barattiere,  I  believe,^  who  compares  his  miserable  state  in  hell  with  his 
pleasant  residence  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  and  draws  additional  anguish 
from  the  comparison.  In  general,  the  sufferings  he  inflicts  are  of  a  purely 
physical  nature.  His  devils  and  bad  spirits,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
which  I  remember  you  pointed  out,  are  much  inferior  in  moral  grandeur  to 
Milton's.  How  inferior  that  stupendous,  overgrown  Satan  of  his  to  the 
sublime  spirit  of  Milton,  not  yet  stripped  of  all  its  original  brightness.  I 
must  say  that  I  turn  with  more  delight  to  the  faultless  tale  of  Francesca  da 
Polenta  than  to  that  of  Ugolino,  or  of  any  other  in  the  poem.  Perhaps  it 
is  in  part  from  its  being  in  such  a  dark  setting,  that  it  seems  so  exquisite 
by  contrast.  The  long  talks  in  the  Purgatorio  and  the  dismal  disputations 
in  the  Paradiso  certainly  lie  very  heavy  on  these  parts  of  the  work  ;  but 
then  this  very  inaction  brings  out  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  beauties  in 
Dante's  composition. 

In  the  Purgatorio  we  have,  in  the  first  ten  cantos,  the  most  delicious 
descriptions  of  natural  scenery,  and  we  feel  like  one  who  has  escaped  from 
a  dungeon  into  a  rich  and  beautiful  country.  In  the  latter  portions  of  it  he 
often  indulges  in  a  noble  tone  of  moral  reflection.     I  look  upon  the  Purga- 

1  "  My  friend  says,  with  some  hesitation,  'a  Barattiere,  I  believe.^  It  was  in  fact 
a  •  Falsificatore  '  —  a  counterfeiter —  and  not  a  barrator  or  peculator.  The  barrators 
are  found  in  the  twenty-first  canto  of  the  Inferno  ;  but  the  beautiful  passage  here 
alluded  to  is  in  the  thirtieth."  —  G.  T. 


APPENDIX. 


73 


^orio,  full  of  sober  meditation  and  sweet  description,  as  more  a  VAnglaise 
than  any  other  part  of  the  Comfnedia.  In  the  Paradiso  his  shocking  argu- 
mentations are  now  and  then  enlivened  by  the  pepper  and  salt  of  his  political 
indignation,  but  at  first  they  both  discouraged  and  disgusted  me,  and  I 
thought  I  should  make  quick  work  of  the  business.  But  upon  reading 
further,  —  thinking  more  of  it,  —  I  could  not  help  admiring  the  genius  which 
he  has  shown  in  bearing  up  under  so  oppressive  a  subject.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  describe  gradations  of  pain  than  of  pleasure,  —  but  more  especially 
when  this  pleasure  must  be  of  a  purely  intellectual  nature.  It  is  like  a 
painter  sitting  down  to  paint  the  soul.  The  Scriptures  have  not  done  it 
successfully.  They  paint  the  physical  tortures  of  hell,  fire,  brimstone,  etc., 
but  in  heaven  the  only  joys,  i.e.^  animal  joys,  are  singing  and  dancing,  which 
to  few  people  convey  a  notion  of  high  delight  and  to  many  are  positively 
disagreeable. 

Let  any  one  consider  how  difficult,  nay  impossible,  it  is  to  give  an  entertain- 
ing picture  of  purely  intellectual  delight.  The  two  highest  kinds  of  pure 
spiritual  gratification  which,  I  take  it,  a  man  can  feel,  —  at  least,  I  esteem 
it  so,  —  are  that  arising  from  a  consciousness  of  a  reciprocated  passion  (I 
speak  as  a  lover),  and,  second,  one  of  a  much  more  philosophic  cast,  that 
arising  from  the  successful  exertion  of  his  own  understanding  (as  in  compo- 
sition, for  instance).  Now  Dante's  pleasures  in  the  Paradiso  are  derived 
from  these  sources.  Not  that  he  pretends  to  write  books  there,  but  then 
he  disputes  like  a  doctor  upon  his  own  studies,  —  subjects  most  interesting 
to  him,  but  unfortunately  to  no  one  else.  .  .  . 

In  all  this,  however,  there  was  a  great  want  of  action,  and  Dante  was 
forced,  as  in  the  Purgatorio,  to  give  vent  to  his  magnificent  imagination  in 
other  ways.  He  has  therefore  made  use  of  all  the  meagre  hints  suggested 
metaphorically  by  the  Scriptures,  and  we  have  the  three  ingredients,  light, 
music,  and  dancing,  in  every  possible  and  impossible  degree  of  diversity. 
The  Inferno  is  a  sort  of  tragedy,  full  of  action  and  characters,  all  well  pre- 
served. The  Paradiso  is  a  great  melodrama,  where  little  is  said,  but  the 
chief  skill  bestowed  upon  the  machinery,  —  the  getting  up,  —  and  certainly 
there  never  was  such  a  getting  up,  anywhere.  Every  canto  blazes  with  a 
new  and  increased  effulgence.  The  very  reading  of  it  by  another  strained 
my  poor  eyes.  And  yet,  you  never  become  tired  of  these  gorgeous  illustra- 
tions, —  it  is  the  descriptions  that  fatigue. 

Another  beauty,  in  which  he  indulges  more  freely  in  the  last  than  in  the 
other  parts,  is  his  unrivalled  similes.  I  should  think  you  might  glean  from 
the  Paradiso  at  least  one  hundred  all  new  and  appropriate,  fitting,  as  he 
says,  "like  a  ring  to  a  finger,"  and  most  beautiful.  Where  are  there  any 
comparisons  so  beautiful  1 


74  APPENDIX. 

I  must  say  I  was  disappointed  with  the  last  canto  ;  but  then,  as  the 
Irishman  said,  I  expected  to  be.  For  what  mortal  mind  could  give  a  por- 
trait of  the  Deity  ?  *  The  most  conspicuous  quality  in  Dante,  to  my  notion, 
is  simplicity.  In  this  I  think  him  superior  to  any  work  I  ever  read,  unless 
it  be  some  parts  of  the  Scriptures.  Homer's  allusions,  as  far  as  I  recollect, 
are  not  taken  from  as  simple  and  familiar,  yet  not  vulgar  objects,  as  are 
Dante's,  —  from  the  most  common,  intimate  relations  of  domestic  life,  for 
instance,  to  which  Dante  often  with  great  sweetness  of  nature  alludes. 

I  think  it  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  the  world  that  the  first  poem  in 
modern  times  was  founded  on  a  subject  growing  out  of  the  Christian 
religion,  or  more  properly  on  that  religion  itself,  and  that  it  was  written  by 
a  man  deeply  penetrated  with  the  spirit  of  its  sternest  creed.  The  religion 
indeed  would  have  had  its  influence  sooner  or  later  upon  literature.  But 
then  a  work  like  Dante's,  showing  so  early  the  whole  extent  of  its  powers, 
must  have  had  an  incalculable  influence  over  the  intellectual  world,  —  an 
influence  upon  literature  almost  as  remarkable  as  that  exerted  by  the 
revelation  of  Christianity  upon  the  moral  world. 

It  is  to  Prescott's  credit  that  he  saw,  at  his  first  reading,  the  points 
in  which  the  Purgatorio  and  the  Paradiso  are  superior  to  the  Inferno. 
This  is  often  not  seen  by  the  reader  until  he  knows  well  the  entire 
poem.  In  other  things,  however,  Prescott  shows  himself  but  a  novi- 
tiate. For  example,  he  has  extravagant  praise  to  bestow  on  Gary's 
translation,  expressing  himself  of  the  opinion  that  "  Dante  would 
have  given  him  a  place  in  his  ninth  heaven,  if  he  could  have  foreseen 
his  translation."  He  does  not  quite  approve  of  the  liberties  Gary 
takes,  yet  commends  him  for  giving  "  the  spirit  of  the  original,  the 
true  Dantesque  manner."  We  must  not  be  surprised  at  this  over- 
estimate of  Gary ;  Coleridge,  Southey,  and  Macaulay  went  equally 
wide  of  the  mark  in  their  estimates  of  him.  Would  that  it  were 
possible  for  any  translation  to  give  at  once  the  spirit  and  the  manner 
of  the  original. 

^  "  No  such  personification  can  be  effected  without  the  illustration  from  physi- 
cal objects,  and  how  degrading  are  these  to  our  conceptions  of  Omnipotence ! 
The  repeated  failures  of  the  Italians  who  have  attempted  this  in  the  arts  of  design 
are  still  more  conspicuous.  Even  the  genius  of  Raphael  has  only  furnished 
another  proof  of  the  impotence  of  his  art." — From  Prescott's  reply  to  Da  Ponte. 

Lowell,  on  the  contrary,  finds  nothing  in  all  poetry  approaching  the  imaginative 
grandeur  of  Dante's  vision  of  God. 


AMERICAN    DANTE    BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Note.  —  The  plan  of  the  present  list  calls  for  but  little  explanation.  Its 
purpose  is  for  historical  rather  than  scholarly  or  literary  ends.  It  aims  at  com- 
pleteness (but,  of  course,  does  not  attain  it),  and  many  of  the  items  have  no 
value  or  interest  apart  from  that  derived  from  their  date  or  authorship.  The 
style  of  entry  adopted  vi'as  fixed  upon  only  after  considerable  thought.  In 
deciding  various  questions  of  form,  I  have  been  favored  with  the  opinions  of  Mr. 
W.  C.  Lane. 

No  notice  is  taken  of  the  purely  eclectic  literature  (except  when  the  article  or 
review  is  of  American  origin),  nor  of  American  reprints  of  English  works  contain- 
ing essays  on,  translations  from,  or  homage  to  Dante  ;  only  when  the  latter  have 
been  printed  separately  in  this  country  do  they  come  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  list.  Thus,  Byron's  "  Prophecy  of  Dante,"  Philadelphia,  1821,  is  entered, 
but  no  mention  is  made  of  the  same  poem  as  embodied  in  the  four- volume  edition 
of  Byron's  works  printed  in  New  York  the  same  year.  Reissues  of  American 
works  from  stereotyped  plates,  although  commonly  spoken  of  by  the  publishers 
as  separate  editions,  are  here,  as  far  as  practicable,  referred  to  under  the  notice 
of  the  first  appearance  of  the  work  in  that  form  or  edition ;  otherwise  we  should 
have  a  score  of  entries  for  Longfellow's  translation.  No  mention  is  made  of 
English  works,  printed  in  England,  and  for  trade  purposes  bound  in  this  country 
with  the  imprint  of  an  American  publisher.  Of  the  numerous  "  editions "  of 
Gary's  translation  bearing  the  imprint  of  American  publishers,  I  have  only 
entered  such  as  I  could  assure  myself  have  been  printed  in  this  country  from 
type  or  from  American  plates.  Copies  of  nearly  all  these  trade  ventures  in  Gary 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Harvard  Gollege  Library  ;  a  list  of  them  was  given  in  the 
last  report  of  the  Dante  Society. 

Reviews  of  American  works  are  grouped  together  under  the  entry  of  the  book 
in  question.  Notices  and  short  reviews  of  foreign  works  are  grouped  together 
chronologically,  forming  footnotes  to  the  domestic  literature  of  the  respective 
years.  Works  by  American  authors  published  abroad  are  regularly  included, 
as  are  also  foreign  articles  on  American  writers.  The  earlier  entries  are  furnished 
with  fuller  notes  than  the  more  familiar  literature  of  recent  years  seemed  to  call 
for.  I  have  carried  the  bibliography  into  Ganada,  Mexico,  and  South  America, 
but  here  the  entries  must,  I  am  sure,  be  very  incomplete. 

When  the  books  referred  to  are  neither  in  the  Harvard  Gollege  Library 
(HGL),  nor  in  the  Boston  Public  Library  (BPL),  I  have  generally  indicated,  by 


76  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

means  of  abbreviations,  the  location  of  a  copy.  Thus,  AL  is  the  Astor  Library, 
BA  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  BM  the  British  Museum,  BUL  the  Brown  University 
Library  (Harris  Collection  of  American  Poetry),  CCL  the  Columbia  College 
Library,  CUL  the  Cornell  University  Library  (Fiske  Dante  Collection),  LL  the 
Lenox  Library,  ML  the  Marsh  Library  of  the  University  of  Vermont,  PHS  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  and  PLC  the  Philadelphia  Library  Company. 


1807. 

II  canto  xxxiii  [vv.  1-84]  di  Dante.  Recitato  dalla  Signora  E.  B.  (/« 
Storia  compendiosa  della  vita  di  Lorenzo  da  Ponte,  scritta  da  lui 
medesimo.  A  cui  si  aggiunge  la  prima  letteraria  conversazione  tenuta 
in  sua  casa,  11  giorno  10  di  marzo,  dell'  anno  1807,  in  New  York,  con- 
sistente  in  alcune  composizioni  italiane,  si  in  verso  che  in  prosa,  tradotte 
in  inglese  da' suoi  allievi.  New  York,  /.  Riley  ^  Co.  1807.  12°. 
PP-  50-S3-) 

With  this  note  :  "  The  translation  of  this  divine  piece  of  poetry  .  .  .  will  be 
published  in  the  second  conversazione."  I  have  never  seen  a  second  part  and 
do  not  believe  it  was  ever  issued.  The  above  is  Da  Ponte's  first  American 
publication  ;  Sabin  makes  no  mention  of  it.  The  New  York  Historical  Society 
has  long  had  a  copy  and  the  BPL  has  recently  been  presented  with  one  by 
Mr.  Allen  A.  Brown. 

[Welles,  Benjamin.]  Dante  Alighieri.  (/«  the  Monthly  anthology. 
(Boston.)     May,  1807.     vol.  iv,  pp.  253-255.) 


1816. 

Character,  (The)  of  Dante.     {In  the  Portfolio.     July,  1816.     pp.  61-63.) 
In  an  extended  review  of  Sismondi's  work  "  On  the  literature  of  the  south 
of  Europe." 

Hunt,  (James  Henry)  Leigh.    The  story  of  Rimini ;  a  poem.    Boston,  Wells 
(Sr»  Lilly;  Philadelphia,  M.  Carey.     1816.     16°.     pp.  xvi  +  85. 

CUL  ;  PLC. 

Reviewed  [by  William  Tudor]  in  the  North  American  review^  July,  18 16, 
vol.  iii,  pp.  272-283  ;  —  in  the  Portfolio,  Dec.  1817,  p.  517. 

"  The  *  Story  of  Rimini '  had  not  long  appeared  when  I  received  a  copy  of 
it,  which  looked  like  witchcraft.  It  was  the  identical  poem,  in  type  and  appear- 
ance, bound  in  calf,  and  sent  me  without  any  explanation ;  but  it  was  a  little 
smaller.  I  turned  it  over  a  dozen  times,  wondering  what  it  could  be,  and  how 
it  could  have  originated.    The  simple  solution  of  the  puzzle  I  did  not  consider. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


17 


till  I  had  summoned  other  persons  to  partake  of  my  astonishment.  At  length 
we  consulted  the  title-page,  and  there  saw  the  names  of  '  Wells  &  Lilly, 
Boston,  and  M.  Carey,  Philadelphia.'  —  Hunt's  "Autobiography,"  London, 
i86o,  p.  231. 

1819. 

[Gray,  John  Chipman.]  Dante.  (/«  the  North  American  review.  Mar. 
1 81 9.     vol.  viii,  pp.  322-347.) 

Reprinted  in  his  "  Essays,  agricultural  and  literary."  Boston,  Little, 
Brown  dr'  Co.     1856.     12°.     pp.  253-302. 

1821. 

Byron,  George  Gordon  Noel  Byron,  6th  baron.  The  prophecy  of  Dante  ; 
a  poem.     Philadelphia,  M.  Carey  fir»  Sons.     1821.     12°.     pp.  48. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  gazette  (Phila.),  June  9,  1821,  vol.  i,  pp.  353-355  ; 
—  in  the  Literary  and  scientific  repository  (Phila.),  1821,  vol.  iii,  pp.  95-98. 

La  profezia  di  Dante.     Tradotta  in  terza  rima  da  L[orenzo]  da 

PONTE.     Nuova  Jorca,  R.  fir*  W.  A.  Bartow.     1821.     24°.     pp.  72. 

BM  ;  CCL. 
The  English  original  and  Italian  translation  are  given  on  opposite  pages. 
There  is  a  prefatory  letter  to  Lord  Byron,  and  a  dedication  of  the  book  to 
Miss  Julia  Livingston.  Pp.  63-70  are  given  up  to  the  translator's  notes, 
while  the  last  two  pages  of  the  volume  contain  a  list  of  subscribers  to  the 
book,  —  very  helpful  in  showing  what  excellent  patronage  Da  Ponte  enjoyed 
at  this  time  of  his  life.  The  copy  in  the  CCL  belonged  to  Bishop  Manton 
Eastburn,  one  of  the  subscribers. 

1822. 

The  Vision  ;  or  Hell,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise,  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Trans- 
lated by  Henry  Francis  Gary.  Philadelphia,  Samuel  Bradford. 
1822.     2  vol.     24°.     Frontisps. 

Published  as  vols,  xlv,  xlvi  of  "  The  works  of  the  English  poets,"  edited  by 
Robert  Walsh,  Jr.  HCL  has  a  second  copy  with  the  added  imprint  "  New 
York,  Ja7?ies  Eastburn  ;  Boston,  Charles  Ewer  dr^  Timothy  Bedlington"  issued 
as  vols,  vi,  vii  of  the  translated  poets  in  the  series. 

Byron,  George  Gordon  Noel  Byron,  6th  baron.  La  profezia  di  Dante. 
Tradotta  in  terza  rima  da  L[orenzo]  da  Ponte.  Seconda  edizione, 
con  note  ed  aggiunte  di  varie  poesie  originali.  Nuova  Jorca,  R.  ^  W. 
A.  Bartow.     1822.     24°.     pp.  96-l-(6).     Frontisp.  CCL  ;  ML. 


jS  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLJOGKAPIIY, 

With  a  portrait  of  Da  Ponte,  N.  Rogers, ////jr.,  M.  Pekenino,  sc  Pp.  1-70 
are  from  the  plates  of  the  first  edition  ;  the  remainder  of  the  volume  is  taken 
up  with  additional  translations  from  Byron,  a  Latin  and  an  English  version  of 
the  poetical  portion  of  Da  Ponte's  letter  to  Byron,  together  with  some  original 
verse,  and  the  list  of  subscribers.  The  last  page  is  numbered  100  by  mistake. 
A  copy  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Norton  lacks  the  portrait. 

Carefully  reviewed  in  the  Literary  and  scientific  repository,  1822,  vol.  iv, 
pp.  310-319,  by  an  anonymous  writer  who  knew  well  both  his  English  and 
Italian  and  pointed  out  a  number  of  liberties  taken  by  the  translator.  To  this 
was  probably  due  the  change  of  title  to  "  Libera  traduzione  della  profezia  di 
Dante,"  when  printed  in  Da  Ponte's  "  Memorie,"  2da  ed.,  1829-30,  vol.  iii, 
part  ii,  pp.  1-38.  The  translation  and  the  letter  to  Byron  are  reprinted  in  Da 
Ponte's  "  Memorie,  compendiate  da  Jacopo  Bernardi,  e  scritti  vari  in  prosa  e 
poesia,"  Firenze,  succ.  Le  Monnier,  187 1,  sm.  8°,  pp.  243-271. 

1825. 

Ponte,  Lorenzo  da.  Critique  on  certain  passages  in  Dante.  (/«  the  New 
York  review  and  Athenaeum  magazine.  1825.  vol.  i,  pp.  156-158, 
241-242,  325-327.)  BA  ;  CCL ;  CUL. 

Reprinted  in  the  Appendix  to  the  present  work. 

1827. 

Ponte,  Lorenzo  da.  Storia  della  lingua  e  letteratura  italiana  in  New  York. 
Con  alcune  lettere  italiane,  francesi,  e  spagnuole,  dalle  damigelle  della 
sua  triplice  classe.  E  due  lettera  ad  rem  del  Sig.  T.  Matthias  all'  autore. 
New  York,  Gray  fir»  Bunce.     I'^i'j.     24°.     pp.  xxv  +  80  +  12  +  (3). 

AL  ;  LC  ;  NYSL. 

Some  of  the  letters  speak  of  the  interest  felt  in  Dante,  and  Da  Ponte  prints 
part  of  a  prose  rendering  of  the  first  canto  of  the  Inferno  which  had  been  sent 
him  by  a  pupil.  The  letters  are  reprinted  in  Bernardi's  abridgement  of  the 
"Memorie,"  1871,  pp.  1 17-144;  (see  under  1822). 

1830. 

Featherstonhaugh,  George  William.  The  death  of  Ugolino  ;  a  tragedy. 
Philadelphia,  C«r<?j  fir»  Z^«.     1830.     8°.     pp.  116. 

"  Many  years  ago  the  author  translated  the  whole  of  the  Divina  Commedia 
into  blank  verse,  upon  a  suggestion  in  the  Edinburgh  Review.  He  was  pre- 
paring it  for  the  press  when  the  able  and  faithful  translation  of  Mr.  Gary 
appeared.  The  work  was  then  laid  by  with  other  rejectamenta.  Amongst 
some  papers  unexpectedly  preserved  from  a  painful  catastrophe,  a  selection  of 
translated  passages  from  Dante's  great  poem  was  found.     The  terrible  images 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  79 

with  which  the  thirty-third  canto  of  the  Inferno  is  pregnant  led  the  author 
gradually  into  the  idea  of  raising  a  tragedy  out  of  the  ruins  of  his  translation, 
in  the  which  he  might  preserve  some  favorite  passages,  the  only  memorial  to 
the  author  of  his  former  labors.  They  will  be  easily  recognized  by  those  who 
are  familiar  with  the  Uivina  Commedia."  —  Preface. 

The  above  is  the  only  edition  of  this  drama.  The  author  was  an  English- 
man who  spent  many  years  in  this  country  in  the  employ  of  our  government 
as  "  United  States  geologist."  In  1834  he  published  in  Washington,  D.  C,  a 
translation  of  Manzoni's  "  I  promessi  sposi." 

*^*  There  was  published  in  Philadelphia,  Turner  6^  Fisher,  n.  d.  (also 
New  York,  Samuel  French,  n.  d.),  "  Ugolino  ;  a  tragedy  in  three  acts,"  by 
Junius  Brutus  Booth,  first  acted  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  in  Philadelphia, 
April  20,  1825.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Venice,  and  the  story  has  no  connection 
with  that  of  Dante. 

1831. 

Dante.  (Jn  the  Philadelphia  album  and  Ladies'  literary  portfolio.  April 
16,  1831.     vol.  V,  pp.  123-124.)  PHS. 

Contains  a  comparison  of  Milton  with  Dante. 

Griffin,  Edward  Dorr.  Dante.  (/«  his  Remains,  compiled  by  Francis 
Griffin.  Nt^  York,  G.  &^  C.  &^  H.  Carvill,  etc.  1831.  8°.  pp.  326- 
337-) 

With  original  translations  in  blank  verse  of  some  fragments  of  the  Inferno, 
including  the  Ugolino  episode,  xxxiii.  1-75  ;  quoted  in  the  review  [by  W.  C. 
Bryant]  of  the  above  work  in  the  North  American  review,  Jan.  1832,  vol. 
xxxiv,  pp.  142-144. 

"In  1830  the  Rev.  E.  D.  Griffin  gave  a  course  of  lectures  at  Columbia 
College  on  Roman,  Italian,  and  English  literature,  devoting  at  least  one  lecture 
to  Dante ;  but  the  course  was  soon  ended  by  his  early  death."  —  P.  C.  Knapp, 
Jr.,  in  "Encyclopaedia  americana,"  1884. 

M[artin],  J.  L.  [Lines  on  Inf.  v.  121-123,]  "  Nessun  maggior  dolore  che 
ricordarsi  del  tempo  felice  nella  miseria."  (Jn  his  Native  bards  ;  a 
satirical  effusion,  with  other  occasional  pieces.  Philadelphia,  E.  L. 
Carey  &^  A.  Hart.     1831.     12°.     pp.  102-103.)  BUL. 

1832. 

Dante.  {In  the  American  monthly  review  (Cambridge,  Mass.),  April,  1832. 
vol.  i,  pp.  344-345-) 

An  account  of  a  copy  of  the  1477  edition  of  the  Divina  Commedia  presented 
to  the  HCL  by  Mr.  O.  Rich  of  London,  Eng. 


8o  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1833. 

[Inglis,  Miss  Frances,  afterwards  Madame  Calderon  de  la  Barca.] 
Dante.     (///  the  North  American  review.     Oct.  1833.     vol.  xxxvii,  pp. 
50-536.) 
Contains  original  translations  in  blank  verse  of  a  number  of  short  passages. 

Ponte,  Lorenzo  L.  da.  [Florence  in  the  time  of  Dante.]  {In  his  History 
of  the  Florentine  republic.  New  York,  Collins  fir»  Hannay.  1833. 
12°.     vol.  i,  pp.  71-100.) 

The  author  was  a  son  of  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte  and  held  a  professorship  in  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

S.  Translations  of  Dante.  (/«  the  New  England  magazine.  Dec.  1833. 
vol.  V,  pp.  474-480.) 

Contains  a  review  of  Cary  and  gives  some  original  fragmentary  renderings. 

v.,  U.  de.  Italian  literature  :  Dante.  {In  the  Shnnt.  Jan.  1833.  vol.  ii, 
PP-  35-39)  ^^' 

The  magazine  was  "  conducted  by  a  number  of  undergraduates  in  Amherst 
College." 

1835. 

Niebuhr,  Barthold  Georg.  [Essay  on  the  allegory  in  the  first  canto  of 
Dante,  translated  from  the  MS.  by  Francis  Lieber.]  {In  Lieber,  F. 
Reminiscences  of  an  intercourse  with  Mr.  Niebuhr,  the  historian,  during 
a  residence  with  him  in  Rome  in  the  years  1822  and  1823.  Philadel- 
phia, C^r^^/,  Z^«  6^  ^/^^c^ar^Z.     1835.     sm.  8°.     pp.  189-192.) 

Reprinted  in  Lieber's  "  Reminiscences,  addresses,  and  essays."     Philadel- 
phia,/. B.  Lippincott  &>  Co.     1881.     8°.     pp.  146-148. 

1836. 

Dante's  Beatrice.  By  the  author  of  '  The  affianced  one.'  {In  the  Token 
and  Atlantic  souvenir.  Boston,  Charles  Bowen.  1836.  16°.  pp.  10 5- 
112.) 

With  John  Cheney's  engraving  of  Washington  Allston's  "  Beatrice,"  opp. 
p.  105. 

Goodrich,  Samuel  Griswold.     Dante's  Beatrice,  as  painted  by  AUston  and 
engraved  by  Cheney.     {In  his  The  outcast  and  other  poems.     Boston, 
Russell,  Shattuck  fir»  Williams.     1836.     12°.     p.  192.) 
With  the  engraving  on  the  opposite  page. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  8 1 

On  AUston's  painting,  see  also  Margaret  Fuller's  article,  "The  AUston 
Exhibition,"  in  the  Dial,  July,  1840,  no.  i,  p.  81,  reprinted  in  her  "Essays  on 
literature  and  art,"  New  York,  Wiley  ^  Putnam,  1846,  pt.  ii,  pp.  109,  117- 
118;  Elizabeth  Palmer  Peabody's  "Last  evening  with  Allston,  and  other 
papers,"  Boston,  D.  Lothrop  &>  Co.,  1887,  pp.  46-49. 

1839. 

The  celestial  pilot  [Purg.  ii.  13-51].  The  terrestial  paradise  [Purg. 
xxviii.  1-33].  Beatrice  [Purg.  xxx.  13-33,  85-99';  ^^xi,  13-21]. 
[Translated  by  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow.]  (In  Longfel- 
low, H.  W.  Voices  of  the  night.  Cambridge,  /oAn  Owen.  1839. 
16°.     pp.  99-108.) 

Reprinted  with  some  slight  changes  in  later  editions  and  in  his  complete 
works  ;  also  in  his  "  Poets  and  poetry  of  Europe,"  1845.  The  revised  version 
is  given  in  the  1893  edition  of  Longfellow's  "  Poetical  works,"  vol.  vi,  pp.  233-~ 
341,  with  footnote  readings  from  the  original  rendering,  and  "for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  reader,  who  may  wish  to  make  the  comparison,  the  final  form  of 
the  passages,  as  presented  in  the  complete  translation  of  the  Purgatorio,  is 
subjoined  in  small  type." 

"  These  translations  are  of  interest  in  many  respects,  but  especially  as 
showing  that  Mr.  Longfellow  had  already  adopted  the  principle  of  literal,  verse 
for  verse,  unrhymed  translation,  which  he  adhered  to  when  he  undertook  the 
task  of  translating  the  whole  of  the  Divine  Comedy.  The  versions  are  of 
great  beauty,  and  are  embodied  with  little  change  in  the  complete  work.  But 
it  is  well  worth  while  to  compare  the  passages  as  they  stand  in  the  *  Voices  of 
the  night,'  and  in  their  place  in  the  translation  of  the  Divine  Comedy,  in  order 
to  note  the  later  revision  which  the  poet  gave  to  them,  and  to  mark  the  signs 
it  affords  of  increased  simplicity,  literalness,  and  perfected  art.  The  com- 
parison is  an  instructive  study  of  the  refinement  of  poetic  expression.  The 
last  touch,  the  hardest  part  of  the  artist's  task  according  to  the  proverb  of  the 
Greek  sculptor,  perfects  the  work."  —  C.  E.  Norton,  "  First  annual  report  of 
the  Dante  Society,"  1882,  p.  19. 

Homer,  Dante,  Rabelais  and  Shakespeare.  By  an  apprentice  of  the  law. 
(/« /^^  Corsair.     1839.     vol.  i,  pp.  609-611.)  LL. 

The  magazine  was  a  New  York  venture  edited  by  N.  P.  Willis  and  T.  O. 
Porter. 

1840. 

[Clarke,]  S[arah].  Dante;  [poem].  (In  the  Dial.  July,  1840.  vol.  i, 
p.  136.) 

One  of  several  scraps  thrown  into  the  last  pages  of  the  first  number  of  the 
Dial.  Under  date  of  July  5,  1840,  Margaret  Fuller  writes  thus  to  Emerson 
concerning  this  feature  of  the  first  issue  :  "  Did  you  observe  the  absurdity  of 


82  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

the  last  two  pages  ?  These  are  things  they  had  to  fill  up  blanks,  and  which, 
thinking  'twas  pity  such  beautiful  thoughts  should  be  lost,  they  put  in  for 
climax ! " 

1841. 

[Carlyle  on  Dante.]     {In  Arcturus,(New  York).  1841.     vol.  i,  pp.  356- 

357.)  BA. 

Notes  of  a  lecture  given  by  Thomas  Carlyle  in  May,  1839,  in  a  series  of 
lectures  on  the  revolutions  of  modern  Europe. 

Durante  Alighieri,  or  Dante.  By  a  new  contributor.  (/«  the  Knicker- 
bocker magazine.     Oct.  1841.     vol.  xviii,  pp.  275-287.) 

A  fanciful  sketch  of  Dante's  life,  with  a  translation  of  the  first  sonnet  of 
the  "  Vita  nuova." 

[Irving,  Washington.]  American  researches  in  Italy.  —  Life  of  Tasso. 
Recovery  of  a  lost  portrait  of  Dante.  (Jn  the  Knickerbocker.  Oct. 
1 841.    vol.  xviii,  pp.  319-322.) 

Signed  "  G.  C."  (Geoffrey  Crayon).  An  account  of  the  Italian  studies  of 
R.  H.  Wilde,  cited  in  the  body  of  the  present  work,  pp.  31-33. 

[Parsons,  Thomas  William.]  On  a  bust  of  Dante.  (Jn  the  Advertiser 
and  patriot,  (Boston).    Oct.  7,  1841.) 

The  poem  is  signed  "  P.  P.  P."  This  is  the  earliest  printed  version.  In 
1843  i*  appeared  in  the  author's  "  First  ten  cantos  of  the  Inferno  "  in  revised 
form,  with  the  addition  of  the  stanza  beginning  "  Not  wholly  such  his  haggard 
look." 

The  poem  is  quoted  in  the  Knickerbocker  magazine^  1843,  ^^l.  xxii,  p.  175, 
and  again  in  1854,  vol.  xliv,  pp.  514-515  ;  "and,"  remarks  the  editor,  "  we  are 
the  more  glad  to  do  this  because  we  perceive  the  same  exquisite  lines,  in 
journals  of  wide  circulation,  wrongfully  attributed  to  the  pen  of  Gerald 
Massey."     Noticed  in  Putnam's  magazine,  July,  1855,  ^°^-  ^^'  P-  S^- 

Reprinted  in  Parsons'  "Poems,"  1854,  pp.  47-49;  —  i"  his  "Seventeen 
cantos  of  the  Inferno,"  1865,  pp.  [ix]-xi;  —  in  his  "  The  old  house  at  Sudbury,'* 
1870,  pp.  1 1 2-1 14  ;  —  in  his  "  Poems,"  1893,  pp.  1-3.  Also  in  the  AthencEum, 
Mar.  23,  1844,  p.  268 ;  —  in  "  The  estray  "  [edited  by  H.  W.  Longfellow],  1847, 
pp.  60-63; — in  Griswold's  "Poets  and  poetry  of  America,"  1850,  p.  466; 

—  in  Duyckinck's  "Cyclopaedia  of  American  literature,"  1855,  v°^-  "'  P-  ^42; 

—  (incomplete)  in  the  Spectator,  July  18,  1868,  vol.  xli,  p.  855;  —  in  Under- 
wood's "Handbook  of  English  literature:  American  authors,"  1873,  PP-  45^- 
4^2;  —  in  W.  J.  Linton's  "Poetry  of  America,"  1878,  pp.  186-187;  —  in  the 
Century  magazine,  Feb.  1884,  vol.  xxvii,  pp.  574-575;  — i"  C.  A.  Dana's 
"Household  book  of  poetry,"  new  ed.,  1884,  pp.  418-419;  —  in  the  Century 
magazine,  July,  1894,  vol.  xlviii,  p.  324; — in  the  Italian  gazette  (Florence), 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  83 

Nov.  17,  1894  (CUL) ;  —  in  A.  B.  Simonds'  "American  song,"  1894,  pp.  225- 
227  ;  —  in  W.  C.  Bryant's  "  New  library  of  poetry  and  song,"  revised  and 
enlarged  [1895],  P-  90^-  ^^  vStedman  and  Hutchinson's  "  Library  of  Ameri- 
can literature,"  1889,  vol.  vii,  pp.  389-390,  Dr.  Parsons'  final  revision  of  the 
poem  is  given  from  a  manuscript  of  1888.  . 

Translated  into  Italian  :  "  Versi  sopra  un  busto  di  Dante  tradotti  dall' 
inglese  dal  generale  Masi."  [With  the  English  original.]  Palermo,  Lao. 
1872.     8°.     pp.  9. 

See  also  the  Critic,  Feb.  16,  1889,  vol.  xiv,  p.  79. 

T.,  M.  Dante.  (/;z  the  Iris,  or  literary  messenger, (New  York).  May, 
1841.     vol.  i,  pp.  341-352.)  CUL;  LL. 

A  sketch  of  Dante's  life  and  work. 

1843. 

The  first  ten  cantos  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Newly  translated 
into  English  verse  [by  Thomas  William  Parsons].  Boston,  William 
D.  Ticknor.     1843.     8°.     pp.  83.     Port. 

The  portrait  is  an  outline  engraving  of  a  bust  of  Dante,  D.  C.  Johnston,  sc. 

Reviewed  in  the  Knickerbocker  magazine,  Aug.  1843,  vol.  xxii,  p.  175  ;  — 
[by  C.  C.  Felton]  in  the  North  American  review,  Oct.  1843,  ^o^-  '^ii*  PP-  49^- 
499  ;  —  in  the  Athenceum,  Mar.  23,  1844,  pp.  267-269  ;  —  with  many  other 
Dantesque  works,  in  the  Westminster  review,  Jan.  1861,  new  series,  vol.  xix, 
pp.  201-231. 

See  also  [Ward,  S.  G.]  Translation  of  Dante.     1844. 

Selections  from  the  translation  were  given  in  Longfellow's  "  Poets  and 
poetry  of  Europe,"  1845.  Further  volumes  of  the  translation  were  printed  in 
1865,  1867,  1872,  1893. 

1844. 

[Ward,  Samuel  Gray.]  Translation  of  Dante.  {In  the  Dial.  Jan.  1844. 
vol.  iv,  pp.  285-290.) 

A  review  of  Parsons'  "  First  ten  cantos,"  1843. 

1845. 

The  Vision:  or  Hell,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Trans- 
lated by  Henry  Francis  Gary.  With  the  life  of  Dante,  chronological 
view  of  his  age,  additional  notes,  and  index.  Illustrated  with  twelve 
engravings  from  designs  by  John  Flaxman.  From  the  last  corrected 
London  edition  [1844].  New  York,  D.  Appleton  6^  Co.  1845.  16°. 
pp.  587.     Port.  2iX\.A  plates. 


84  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  portrait  of  Dante,  engraved  by  Phillibrown,  is  from  the  Giotto  fresco 
after  restoration. 

Reissued  in  1851,  1853,  1859,  1863,  ^869,  1890,  and  perhaps  other  years, 
without  any  change  other  than  the  date  and  imprint,  some  having  added 
"Philadelphia,  Geo.  S.  App/eton."  Reviewed  in  the  American  review,  a  Whig 
journaly  April,  1846,  vol.  iii,  p.  453. 

Beatrice  [Par.  xxiii.  1-34].  [Translated  by  Francis  Calley  Gray,] 
(/«  Longfellow,  H.  W.,  editor.  Poets  and  poetry  of  Europe.  Philadel- 
phia, Gz^vy  <Sr» //^r/.     1845.     4°.     p.  524.) 

In  terza  rima.  The  translator  has  left  some  unpublished  fragmentary  ren- 
derings from  Dante  which  I  have  not  seen. 

Boccaccio,  Giovanni.  Dante ;  [sonnet].  [Translated  by  Francis  Calley 
Gray.]  (///  Longfellow,  H.  W.,  editor.  Poets  and  poetry  of  Europe. 
Philadelphia,  Gzr^j  ^ //^r/.     1845.     4°-     P- 534) 

The  sonnet  is  the  one  beginning  "  Dante  Alighieri  son,  Minerva  oscura," 
and  is  reprinted  in  "  Poems  of  places,  edited  by  H.  W.  Longfellow.  —  Italy," 
Boston,/.  R.  Osgood,  1877,  vol.  ii,  pp.  66-67  ;  —  in  N.  C.  Hunt's  "The  poetry 
of  other  lands,"  Philadelphia,  Porter  &^  Coates  (cop.  1883),  p.  165;  —  in  S. 
Waddington's  "  The  sonnets  of  Europe,"  London,  Walter  Scott,  1886,  p.  40. 

[Goodrich,  Samuel  Griswold.]     Literature,  ancient  and  modern,  with  spec- 
imens.   By  the  author  of  Peter  Parley's  Tales.    New  York,  John  Allen. 
1845.     16°.     pp.336, 
pp.  165-175,  Dante. 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.  Dante  Alighieri.  {In  his  Poets  and 
poetry  of  Europe.  Philadelphia,  Gzr^y/ 6- iY^r/.  1845.  4°  PP- 5^2- 
524.) 

An  original  essay  on  the  life  and  writings  of  Dante,  followed  by  selected 
translations  by  Charles  Lyell,  Lord  Byron,  T.  W.  Parsons,  and  I.  C.  Wright, 
with  Longfellow's  own  translations  of  1839.  Two  translations  by  F.  C.  Gray, 
one  of  Par.  xxiii,  1-34,  and  a  sonnet  from  Boccaccio,  were  published  here  for 
the  first  time ;  see  supra. 

This  portion  of  the  volume  noticed  [by  Francis  Bowen]  in  the  review  of 
the  above  in  the  North  American  review,  July,  1845,  ^°^'  1*^'  PP-  225-227;  — 
[by  C.  C.  Felton]  in  the  Christian  examiner,  Sept.  1845,  ^°^-  xxxix,  pp.  235- 
236. 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  (/«  his  The  belfry  of 
Bruges  and  other  poems.  Cambridge,  John  Owen.  1845.  ^^^'  PP- 
111-112.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE    BIBLIOGRAPHY.  85 

Beginning  "  Tuscan,  that  wanderest  through  the  realms  of  gloom."  Re- 
printed in  all  later  editions  and  in  his  complete  works ;  also  in  Philip  Schaff' s 
"  Literature  and  poetry,"  1890,  p.  343;  —  in  A.  B.  Simonds'  "  American  song," 
1894,  p.  76. 

Translated  into  German  by  Hermann  Simon,  in  his  "  Sammtliche  poetische 
Werke  von  H.  W.  Longfellow,"  Leipzig,  P.  Reclani  [1883],  vol.  i,  p.  142. 
Translated  into  Italian  by  Caterino  Frattini,  in  his  "  Per  le  faustissime  nozze 
Melati-Nicoletti,"  Este,  G.  Longo,  1867,  p.  9;  —  by  Ettore  Marcucci  in  his 
"  Versi,"  Firenze,  G.  Barbera,  1880,  p.  241  (CUL). 

1846. 

[Brown,  Samuel  Gilman.]  Dante.  (Jn  the  North  American  review. 
April,  1846.     vol.  Ixii,  pp.  323-350.) 

Printed  as  a  review  of  the  edition  of  Gary  published  in  the  previous  year 
by  D.  Appleton.  Reprinted,  without  the  reference  to  the  American  edition, 
and  with  one  or  two  other  editorial  changes,  in  "  Gharacteristics  of  men  of 
genius  ;  a  series  of  biographical,  historical,  and  critical  essays,  selected  chiefly 
from  the  North  American  review."  Boston,  Otis,  Broaders  dr'  Co.;  London, 
etc.  1847.  2  V.  This  collection  was  printed  in  England,  and  the  editor,  John 
Ghapman,  added  J.  E.  Taylor's  translations  of  poems  on  Dante  by  Michael 
Angelo  and  Ludwig  Uhland. 

Dante.     (Jn  the  Southern  literary  messenger.     Sept.  1846.     vol.  xii,  pp. 

545-552.)  BA  ;  PHS. 

A  general  article,  with  an  excursus  upon  Dante's  place  in  modern  literature, 

a  review  of   Gary's  translation,  and  a  very  free  original  rendering  of   the 

Ugolino  episode. 

Schaf  [f],  Philip.  Dante  ;  an  address  on  the  Divina  commedia  delivered 
before  the  Goethean  literary  society  of  Marshall  college  at  its  anniver- 
sary, Aug.  28,  1846.  Translated  [from  the  German]  for  the  occasion 
by  Jeremiah  H.  Good.  {In  Marshall  college:  Goethean  literary 
society.  The  Goethean  hall,  or  the  anniversary  of  Goethe's  birthday  in 
Mercersburg  (Pa.).     Chambersburg  (Pa.).     1846.     8°.     pp.  19-47.) 

"  Written  at  a  time  when  the  author  knew  more  Italian,  but  less  English 
than  afterwards."  —  Schaff' s  "  Literature  and  poetry,"  1890,  p.  335. 

1847. 

Story  of  Ugolino.  [Translated  by  Philip  Pendleton  Cooke.]  {In 
Cooke,  P.  P.  Froissart  ballads  and  other  poems.  Philadelphia,  Carey 
^^  Hart.     1847.     12°.     pp.  210-216.) 

A  free  translation  of  Inf.  xxxiii.  1-90  into  rhymed  verse. 


86  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY, 

[Wheaton,  Robert.]  The  sources  of  the  Divina  commedia.  (/;/  the 
North  American  review.     Jan.  1847.     vol.  Ixiv,  pp.  97-117.) 

Reprinted  in  "  Memoir  of  Robert  Wheaton,  with  selections  from  his 
writings."     ^osiony  Ticknor,  Reed  &>  Fields.     1854.     sm.  8°.     pp.  127-157. 

'   1848. 

Haskins,  James.  To  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  {In  his  Poetical  works.  Hartford, 
H.  S.  Parsons.     1848.     12°.     p.  290.) 

Lowell,  James  Russell.  On  a  portrait  of  Dante  by  Giotto.  (In  his 
Poems  :  second  series.  Cambridge,  George  JVichols.  1848.  16°.  pp. 
142-144.) 

Reprinted  in  the  later  editions. 

S[chaff],  P[hilip].  The  life  and  genius  of  Dante  Alighieri,  with  an  account 
of  the  Divina  commedia.  (In  the  American  review,  a  Whig  journal. 
Aug.  1848.     vol.  viii,  pp.  1 25-1 41.) 

1849. 

Dante's  Divine  comedy :  the  Inferno.  A  literal  prose  translation  with  the 
text  of  the  original  collated  from  the  best  editions,  and  explanatory 
notes.  By  John  A.  Carlyle.  New  York,  Harper  6r»  Bros.  1849. 
12°.     pp.  xxxiv  +  [ii]-375.     Port. 

The  portrait  of  Dante,  after  Raphael  Morghen,  engraved  by  J.  Halpin. 

The  above  is  a  reprint  of  the  first  English  edition,  1849.  This  is  the 
earliest  American  imprint  of  any  considerable  portion  of  Dante  in  the  original. 
It  was  reissued  in  1855,  1864,  ^^d  later,  n.d.,  without  any  change  except  in 
the  date  on  the  title-page. 

1850. 

Byron,  George  Gordon  Noel  Byron,  6th  baron.  La  profecia  del  Dante.  .  .  . 
Traducido  del  Frances  por  A.  M.  Vizcayno,  etc.     Mexico.     1850.     8°. 

BM. 

Title  taken  from  the  BM  catalogue. 

Everett,  Edward.     Santa  Croce  ;  [poem].     (In  the  Boston  book.     Boston, 
Ticknor,  Reed  &^  Fields.     1850.     12°.     pp.  106-109.) 
The  third  stanza  is  on  Dante's  cenotaph. 

Junkin,  Miss  Margaret  (afterwards  Mrs.  Preston).  Dante  in  exile; 
[poem].  (In  the  Southern  literary  messenger.  Nov.  1850.  vol.  xvi, 
p.  691.)  BA;  PHS. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  87 

Schelling,  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Joseph  von.  Dante's  Divina  commedia. 
From  the  German,  by  H.  W.  Longfellow.  {In  Graham's  magazine. 
June,  1850,     vol.  xxxvi,  pp.  351-354.) 

Reprinted  in  "  Drift-wood  ;  a  collection  of  essays  "  in  Longfellow's  "  Prose 
works,"  1857  (which  see),  and  in  his  translation  of  the  Divine  comedy,  1867, 
vol.  ii,  pp.  403-410,  and  later  editions. 

Longfellow  makes  several  references  to  this  essay  in  his  *'  Journal." 
April  18,  1846:  "Translating  Schelling' s  paper  on  'Dante  in  a  philosophical 
point  of  view ';  deep,  —  obscure,  rather.  To  the  student  of  Dante,  interesting, 
though  throwing  much  'darkness  visible'  upon  the  subject  to  minds  not 
philosophic."  —  April  28,  1846:  "Read  to  the  class  [in  Dante]  Schelling's 
essay.  It  must  have  been  darkness  deep  to  them."  —  Nov.  18,  1849:  "In 
the  evening  read  over  Schelling's  essay  on  Dante,  which  is  like  a  dark  cave 
with  some  gleaming  stalactites  hanging  from  the  roof." 

Wilde,  Richard  Henry,  and  Dante.  {In  the  International  monthly  maga- 
zine.    Aug.  1850.     vol.  i,  pp.  2-4.) 

Concerning  Wilde's  part  in  the  discovery  of  the  Bargello  fresco,  in  1840. 
Reprints  G.  A.  Bezzi's  letter  to  the  London  Spectator,  May  25,  1850;  cited  in 
the  body  of  the  present  work,  pp.  34-35. 

1851. 

Ball,  BenjaJiin  West.  The  lay  of  the  condemned  spirit  in  Dante.  {In 
his  Elfin  land,  and  other  poems.  Boston  and  Cambritige,  James 
Munroe  &^  Co.     1851.     16°.     p.  50.) 

1852. 

[Hyde,  A.  B.]  Dante.  {In  the  Methodist  quarterly  review.  Jan.  1852. 
4th  series,  vol.  iv,  pp.  49-66.) 

1853. 

Francesca  da  Rimini  ;  episode  from  Dante.  [Inf.  v.]  [Translated  by 
William  Gilmore  Simms.]  {In  Simms,  W.  G.  Poems ;  descriptive, 
dramatic,  legendary,  and  contemplative.  New  York,  Redfield.  1853. 
12°.     vol.  ii,  pp.  356-360.) 

In  terza  rima.  I  am  informed  that  this  translation  had  previously  appeared 
in  Godey^s  Lady  book,  but  lack  the  exact  reference. 

Hillard,  George  Stillman.  Giotto's  portrait  of  Dante.  (///  his  Six  months 
in  Italy.  Boston,  Ticknor,  Reed  &^  Fields.  1853.  12°.  vol.  i,  pp. 
144-145.) 


88  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

An  account  of  its  discovery  ;  speaks  of  R.  H.  Wilde  as  having  been  con- 
spicuous in  the  undertaking.  The  above  was  reissued  in  1854,  1856,  and  a 
new  edition  in  1881. 

Uhland,  (Johann)  Ludwig.     Dante ;  [poem].     From  the  German  [by]  F. 
(/;/  the  Monthly  religious  magazine.     April,  1853.     vol.  x,  pp.  182-184.) 
With  a  note  stating  that  "  this  poem  of  Uhland  has  become  somewhat 
familiar  since  Mr.  Scherb  quoted  it  in  one  of  his  lectures." 

1854. 

Paraphrase  of  a  passage  in  Dante.  [Par.  xxi.  106-135.]  [By  Thomas 
William  Parsons.]  (/«  Parsons,  T.  W.  Poems.  Boston,  Ticknor 
&*  Fields.     1854.     16°.     pp.  50-54.) 

With  notes  and  the  Italian  original.  Reprinted  in  Parsons'  "  Poems," 
1893,  PP-  233-237,  where  only  the  prefatory  note  is  given.  In  HCL  (call- 
number,  Dn  46.  I.  4)  is  a  clipping  from  the  Boston  daily  advertiser,  date  missing, 
which  contains  this  •'  Paraphrase."  As  printed  there,  probably  for  the  first 
time,  since  it  is  headed  "  For  the  Boston  daily  advertiser, ^^  it  contains  six 
additional  lines.  Besides  this  curtailment  the  paraphrase  underwent  other 
changes  before  appearing  in  the  "  Poems  "  of  1854.  The  clipping  is  signed 
"L,"  and  the  Harvard  Dante  Catalogue,  p.  14a,  has  erroneously  attributed 
it  to  Longfellow. 

Locke,  Mrs.  Jane  Ermina  Starkweather.  Dante.  {In  her  The 
recalled  :  in  voices  of  the  past  and  poems  of  the  ideal.  Boston  and 
Q2iVi^x\digt,  James  Munroe  ^  Co.     1854.     sm.  8°.     pp.  76-77.) 

On  "an  original  statue  in  marble  included  in  the  private  collection  of 
sculpture  and  paintings  of  C.  C.  Perkins." 

Parsons,  Thomas  William.  Francesca  da  Rimini,  a  picture  by  Ary 
Scheffer.  {In  his  Poems.  Boston,  Ticknor  6r»  Fields.  1854.  16°. 
pp.  182-183.) 

Reprinted  in  his  "The  old  house  at  Sudbury,"  1870,  pp.  46-47,  and  in  his 
"Poems,"  1893,  pp.  240-241. 

1855. 
Boker,  George  Henry.     Dramatic  fragment.     [From  the  then  unpublished 
tragedy  of  "  Francesca  da  Rimini."]     {In  the  Knickerbocker  gallery. 
Htvf  ^ork,  Samuel  Hueston.     1855.     8°.     pp.  59-61.) 

The  fragment  here  published  gives  the  episode  of  the  reading  of  Lancelot's 
tale.     The  entire  drama  was  published  in  1856. 

Dante,  (The)  and  Beatrice  of  Ary  Scheffer.  {In  the  Crayon.  Oct.  24, 
1855.     vol.  ii,  p.  262.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  89 

Divine,  (The)  comedy.  (/;/  the  National  magazine.  July,  1855.  vol.  vii, 
pp.  28-30.)  CCL. 

With  a  woodcut  of  the  Giotto  portrait. 

1856. 

Boker,  George  Henry.  Francesca  da  Rimini ;  a  tragedy.  (/«  his  Plays 
and  poems.  Boston,  Ticknor  &^  Fields.  1856.  12°.  vol.  i,  pp.  347- 
474-) 

I>ater  imprints,  from  the  same  plates,  Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  ^  Co. 

Noticed  [by  William  Sargent]  in  the  North  American  review,  Jan.  1857, 
vol.  Ixxxiv,  pp.  268-269.  Epitomised  by  extracts  in  J.  W.  S.  Hows'  "  Golden 
leaves  from  the  British  and  American  dramatic  poets,"  New  York,  Bunce  dr* 
Huntingtoft,  1865,  pp.  549-562. 

See  an  article  on  Boker  by  R.  H.  Stoddard  in  Lippincotfs  magazine,  June, 
1890,  vol.  xlv,  pp.  864-866,  in  which  there  is  published  a  letter  from  the  former 
to  the  latter,  written  at  the  time  the  play  was  in  process  of  writing.  The  play 
was  first  brought  out  by  E.  L.  Davenport  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  New  York, 
Sept.  26,  1865.  On  Sept.  11,  1882,  it  was  revived  by  Lawrence  Barrett  at  the 
Chestnut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  and  met  with  remarkable  success.  It 
is  claimed  that  Barrett  cleared  over  $90,000  from  the  play  during  the  first 
season  of  his  presenting  it,  —  a  proof  that  legitimate  drama  in  America  need 
not  want  for  encouragement  when  entrusted  to  capable  actors.  After  the 
death  of  Barrett,  "  Francesca  da  Rimini "  was  taken  up  by  Frederick  Warde 
and  Louis  James,  in  the  season  of  1892-93,  and  was  well  received  by  the 
public.  See  under  date  of  Dec.  12,  1893,  the  Boston  daily  herald;  —  the 
Boston  evening  transcript ;  —  Henry  A.  Clapp  in  the  Boston  daily  advertiser  ; 
—  George  T.  Richardson  in  the  Boston  daily  traveller.  See  also  the  Critic, 
Feb.  2,  1884,  vol.  iv,  p.  57. 

WilUam  Winter,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  "  Shadows  of  the  stage,"  1895, 
pp.  186-198,  has  an  account  of  "  Lawrence  Barrett  as  Lanciotto,"  with  a  good 
critical  resume  of  the  drama.  Sarony,  the  New  York  photographer,  pub- 
lishes a  photograph  of  Barrett  in  this  role. 

Dante.  (/«  the  Methodist  quarterly  review.  July,  1856.  4th  series,  vol. 
viii,  pp.  381-403.) 

A  review  of  Fauriel's  Dante. 

1857. 

Dante's  Hell.     Cantos  i  to  x.     A  literal  metrical  translation,  with  notes. 
By  J.  C.  Peabody.     Boston,  Tic knor  &^  Fields.     1857.     16°.     pp.  xci. 
A  "  line-for-line  literal  translation  "  in  blank-verse.     The  first  canto  is  also 
rendered  in  terza  rima.     The  preface  is  dated  from  Newburyport,  Mass. 


90  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Reviewed  [by  C.  E.  Norton]  in  the  Atlantic  monthly,  Jan.  1858,  vol.  i, 
pp.  382-383. 

Oeibel,  Emanuel.  Dante.  [From  the  German  by  William  W.  Cald- 
well.] (/«  Caldwell,  W.  W.  Poems,  original  and  translated.  Boston, 
etc.,  James  Munroe  6r*  Co.     1857.     12°.     pp.  1 90- 191.) 

[Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward.]  Dante;  [poem].  (In  her  Words  for  the 
hour.     Boston,  Ticknor  6r*  Fields.     1857.     16°.     pp.  148-149.) 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.  Dante  Alighieri.  —  The  Oivina  commedia. 
(///  his  Prose  works  :  Drift-wood  ;  a  collection  of  essays.  Boston, 
Ticknor  ^  Fields.     1857.     16°.     vol.  i,  pp.  419-449.) 

In  the  "  Blue  and  gold  "  series.     Reissued  in  1866. 

The  first  is  probably  the  substance  of  a  lecture  on  Dante,  given  either  at 
Harvard,  or  one  of  the  two  on  the  subject  given  in  New  York  in  the  Mercantile 
Library  course.  The  second  is  the  translation  from  Schelling,  first  published  in 
1850.     Neither  are  included  in  the  later  and  revised  editions  of  "  Drift-wood." 

"In  1852  Mr.  Longfellow  projected  a  volume  to  contain  his  scattered  prose 
papers,  contributed  to  magazines  and  reviews.  He  proposed  to  call  the  book 
^  '  Drift-wood,'  and  went  so  far  as  to  have  some  of  it  set  up.    He  abandoned  the 

project,  however,  and  renewed  it  in  part  only  when,  in  1857,  his  prose  works 
were  published  in  the  Blue  and  Gold  edition.  In  that  collection  he  had  a 
division  entitled  '  Drift-wood,'  which  differed  from  that  which  he  finally  sanc- 
tioned by  not  including  *  Ancient  French  Romances,'  and  by  including  papers 
on  *  Dante '  and  the  •  Divina  Commedia.'  "  —  Note  to  the  edition  of  1886. 

1858. 

A  canzone  of  Dante's.  [Translated  by  Charles  Timothy  Brooks.] 
{In  the  Crayon.     Feb.  1858.     vol.  v,  p.  39.) 

"  I  think  I  have  succeeded  in  retaining  the  remarkable  uncertainty  which 
Dante  lets  hang  over  the  transition  from  the  spiritual  person  of  his  mistress  to 
that  Divine  Philosophy,  that  Supreme  Wisdom,  of  which  he  regards  her  as  the 
incarnation,  as  represented  at  length,  and  very  curiously,  in  the  fifteen  chapters 
of  the  Trattato."  — C.  T.  B. 

The  canzone  is  the  second  in  the  Convito.  Reprinted  in  Brooks'  "  Poems, 
original  and  translated,  with  a  memoir  by  C.  W.  Wendte  ;  selected  and  edited 
by  W.  P.  Andrews."     Boston,  Roberts  Bros.     1885.     ^6°     PP-  I90-I93- 

[Scherb,  Emmanuel  Vitalis.]     Dante's  Beatrice  as  a  type  of  womanhood. 
>^  {In  the  Christian  examiner.     Jan.  1858.     vol.  Ixiv,  pp.  39-56.) 

N.  V       The  author,  a  German  by  birth,  spent  a  number  of  years  in  this  country. 

-i^Longfellowmet  him  in  1848,  and  an  intimacy  soon  sprang  up  between  the  two 

poets.     In  November,  1849,  Scherb  was  Longfellow's  guest  for  a  day,  and  the 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


91 


latter  records  their  "  talking  of  Dante  and  poets  and  poetry."  A  few  weeks  later 
Longfellow  attended  Scherb's  lecture  on  "  Dante  and  the  worship  of  the  Virgin." 
"He  injured  the  effect  of  his  lecture,"  says  Longfellow,  "by  just  overstepping 
the  bounds  of  reasonable,  temperate  warmth,  into  the  tropics  of  rather  a  wild 
growth  of  enthusiasm." 

1859. 

Count  Ugoline  ;   from  the  Divina  commedia  of  Dante.      [Translated  by 

Richard  Furman.]     (Jn   Furman,  R.     The  pleasures  of  piety,  and 

other  poems.     Charleston  (S.C.),  61  G.  Courtenay  &^  Co.     1859.     ^2.° 

pp.  178-184.)  BUL. 

A  very  free  rendering  of  Inf.  xxxiii  into  rhymed  verse. 

Kemble,  Frances  Anne  {at  one  time  Mrs.  Butler).  On  the  picture  of 
Paolo  and  Francesca.  (In  her  Poems.  Boston,  Ticknor  6r»  Fields. 
1859.     16°.     p.  56.) 

Written  during  the  author's  residence  in  America.  The  theme  is  Scheffer's 
famous  painting.  Reprinted  in  the  English  edition  of  the  "  Poems,"  London, 
1866. 

[Lowe,  Mrs.  Martha  A.  Perry.  Scheffer's  picture  of  Dante  and  Beatrice. 
(/«  her  The  olive  and  the  pine.  Boston,  Crosby^  Nichols  <Sr»  Co.  1859. 
16°.     pp.  153-154-) 

*5it*The  original  of  this  picture,  so  well  known  through  the  many  engravings 
which  have  been  made  of  it,  belonged  to  Mr.  Charles  C.  Perkins.  Notices 
of  the  painting  will  be  found  in  Putnam's  magazine,  Oct.,  Nov.,  1855,  vol.  vi, 
pp.  332,  448;  see  also  "  The  Dante  and  Beatrice  of  Ary  Scheffer,"  1855. 

Lowell,  James  Russell.  Dante.  {In  Appleton's  New  American  cyclopaedia. 
New  York,  D.  Appleton  &^  Co.     1859.     vol.  vi,  pp.  247-258.) 

A  biographical  sketch.  Reprinted  in  the  second  edition  of  the' above,  known 
as  the  "American  cyclopaedia,"  1874  ;  and  in  the  "  Fifth  annual  report  of  the 
Dante  Society,"  1886,  pp.  15-38.  It  is  quoted  in  the  notes  to  Longfellow's 
translation,  1867,  vol.  i,  pp.  356-359,  and  later  editions,  under  the  title  of  "  The 
posthumous  Dante."     Lowell's  MS.  has  recently  been  presented  to  the  HCL. 

Translated  into  Russian  by  N.  Golovanov  in  the  notes  to  his  translation  of 
the  Inferno,  Moscow,  1896. 

[Norton,  Charles  Eliot.]    The  New  life  of  Dante.   {In  the  Atlantic  monthly. 
Jan.,  Feb.,  Mar.,  1859.     vol.  iii,  pp.  62-69,  202-212,  330-339.) 
An  essay,  with  translations. 

The  New  life  of  Dante.     An  essay,  with  translations.     Cambridge, 

Riverside  Press.    [Privately  printed.]     1859.     sq.  8°.     pp.  (4)+ 109. 
100  copies.     A  reprint  of  the  foregoing  with  additions. 


92  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Appendix: — Date  of  the  composition  of  the  Vita  nuova.  —  Structure  of 
the  Vita  nuova.  —  Inconsistency  of  statements  in  the  Convito  with  those  of 
the  Vita  nuova.  —  Translation  of  Guido  Cavalcanti's  canzone,  "Donna  mi 
priega,"  by  Charles  T.  Brooks. 

See  also  [Ware,  L.  6.]  New  translations  of  the  Vita  nuova.     1862. 
The  completed  translation  was  published  in  1867. 

[Osgood,  Samuel.]  Dante  from  the  modern  point  of  view.  (/«  the  Knicker- 
bocker.    1859.    vol.  liii,  pp.  340-348,  505-514.) 

Ossoli,  Sarah  Margaret  Fuller,  marchesa  d'.  Gary's  Dante.  {In  her  Life 
without  and  life  within ;  or,  Reviews,  narratives,  essays,  and  poems ; 
edited  by  her  brother,  Arthur  B.  Fuller.  Boston,  Brown,  Taggard  6t* 
Chase.     1859.     ^2°.     pp.  102-107.) 

Reissued  in  1895. 

1860. 

Dante.     (In  the  National  quarterly  review,     i860,     vol.  i,  pp.  1-30.) 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot.  Rome  in  the  time  of  Dante.  (/«  his  Notes  of 
travel  and  study  in  Italy.  Boston,  Ticknor  6^  Fields,  i860.  16°. 
pp.  246-267.) 

[ ]    Le  prime  quattro  edizioni  della    Divina  commedia   letteralment^ 

ristampate  per  cura  di  G.  G.  Warren,  Lord  Vernon,  London,  1858;  [a 
review].     (/;/  the  Atlantic  monthly.     May,  i860,     vol.  v,  pp.  622-629.) 

Smith,  Mrs.  E.  Vale.     Comparative  analysis  of  Dante  and  Milton.     I-VL 
{In  the  Crayon.     June-Oct.  i860,    vol.  vii,  pp.  156-159,  188-196,  216- 
222,  252-257,  281-287.) 
Ends  with  a  very  feeble  paraphrase  of  Michael  Angelo's  sonnet  on  Dante. 

Tuckerman,  Frederick  Goddard.  Paulo  to  Francesca.  {In  his  Poems. 
Boston,     i860,    sm.  8°.    pp.  171-173.) 

Reprinted  in  his  "Poems,"  Boston,  Ticknor  6-"  Fields.  1864.  16°.  pp. 
158-160. 

1861. 

Bemardi,  Jacopo.  La  Divina  commedia  interpretata  [per]  la  prima  volta 
da  Lorenzo  da  Ponte  agli  americani.  {In  Rivista  contemporanea. 
Maggio,  1 861.    vol.  XXV,  pp.  295-299.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY, 


93 


[Norton,  Charles  Eliot.]  Benvenuto  Rambaldi  da  Imola  illustrate  nella 
vita  e  nelle  opere,  e  di  lui  Comento  latino  sulla  Divina  commedia  di 
Dante  Alighieri  voltato  in  italiano  dall'  avocato  Giovanni  Tamburini, 
Imola,  1855-56;  [a  review].  {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.  May,  1861. 
vol.  vii,  pp.  629-637.) 

Same.     A  review  of  a  translation  into  Italian  of  the  commentary  by 

Benvenuto  da  Imola  on  the  Divina  commedia.     Cambridge,  Riverside 
Press.     1 861.    sq.  8°.    pp.  32. 

50  copies.  "  It  is  reprinted  for  the  use  of  a  few  students  who  are  not  likely 
to  meet  with  it  in  its  original  form,  and  whom  it  may  save  from  waste  of  time 
on  a  worthless  book." 

Stoddard,  Richard  Henry.  Dante  Alighieri.  —  Beatrice.  (Jn  his  Loves 
and  heroines  of  the  poets.  New  York,  Derby  ^^  Jackson.  1861.  8°. 
pp.  1-9.) 

1862. 

McCabe,  William  Gordon.  Dante  Alighieri.  (Jn  the  Southern  literary 
messenger.     Feb.-Mar.  1862.    vol.  xxxvi,  pp.  136-148.)         BA;  PHS. 

[Ware,  Loammi  Goodenow.]  New  translations  of  the  Vita  nuova.  {In  the 
Christian  examiner.    Nov.  1862.    vol.  Ixxiii,  pp.  363-381.) 

A  review  of  Rossetti's  and  Martin's  translations,  and  of  Norton's  essay,  with 
translations,  of  1859. 


1863. 

Dor6,  Gustave.     Dante  album.    Inferno;  [ten]  photographs  of  illustrations, 
Philadelphia, /^.  Z^j/tf/^/.     1863.    4°.    Portfolio.    11  leaves.        HCL 
Enlarged  in  1865. 


V 


Ticknor,  George.  Life  of  William  Hickling  Prescott.  Boston,  Ticknor  <Sr» 
Fields.     1863.    sm.  8°.    pp.  xii -}- 458. 

pp.  61-64,  a  letter  from  Prescott  to  Ticknor,  dated  1823,  concerned  with 
Dante  and  Gary's  translation.  See  the  Appendix  to  the  body  of  the  present 
work. 

1864. 

Three  cantos  [xxiii-xxv]  of  Dante's  "  Paradiso."  [Translated  by  Henry 
Wads  WORTH  Longfellow.]  {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.  Jan.  1864. 
vol.  xiii,  pp.  47-55-) 


94  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRATIIY. 

With  marginal  notes.     These  cantos  underwent  some  changes  before  going 
into  Ihe  finished  work  of  1867. 

Bernard!,  Jacopo.  Lorenzo  Da-Ponte  di  Ceneda  spiega  Dante  Allighieri 
agli  americani.  (/«  Giornale  del  centenario.  1864.  no.  38,  pp. 
306-307.) 

Ferguson,  J.  Dante  and  John  Bunyan.  (/«  the  American  quarterly  church 
review  and  ecclesiastical  register.    Oct.  1864.    vol.  xvi,  pp.  337-354.) 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.     On  translating  the   Divina  commedia  ; 
[sonnet].    {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.    Dec.  1864.    vol.  xiv,  p.  688.) 
The  first  of  the  six  sonnets,  on  this  theme.     See  1866,  1867. 


1865. 

The  Divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow,  vol.  i.  [Inferno.]  Boston,  Ticknor  6r»  Fields. 
[Privately  printed.]    1865.    4°.    pp.  (2) +  216. 

10  copies  printed,  of  which  five  were  sent  to  Italy.  "In  commemorazione 
del  secentesimo  anniversario  della  nascita  di  Dante  Alighieri."  Copy  in 
possession  of  Mr.  Norton  dated  Feb.  27,  1865,  Longfellow's  birthday. 

Seventeen  cantos  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante  Alighieri.  [Translated  by 
T.  W.  Parsons.]  Boston,  John  Wilson  6r»  Son.  [Privately  printed.] 
1865.    4°.    pp.  viii  +  104  +  [ix]  —  xi. 

Dedicated  to  the  Duke  of  Sermoneta  to  whom  a  letter,  pp.  vii-viii,  is 
addressed ;  pp.  ix-xi,  "  Lines  on  a  bust  of  Dante."  The  notes  of  1843  are 
omitted  and  the  translation  revised.  "  An  humble  tribute  from  New  England  to 
the  coming  celebration,  in  Florence,  of  the  six-hundredth  birthday  of  Dante." 

Noticed  in  the  Monthly  religious  magazine,  Nov.  1865,  vol.  xxxiv,  p.  318. 

See  also  [Norton,  C.  E.]  Dante  and  his  latest  English  translators.     i866. 

Botta,  Vincenzo.  Dante  as  philosopher,  patriot,  and  poet;  with  an  analysis 
of  the  Divina  commedia,  its  plot  and  episodes.  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner  &^  Co.     1865.     12°.    pp.  x+413. 

On  the  leaf  following  the  title-page  are  the  following  words :  "  AH'  Italia,  che 
nella  commemorazione  del  sesto  centenario  dalla  nascita  di  Dante  Alighieri 
celebra  il  proprio  rinascimento  alia  vita  di  nazione,  1'  autore  partecipando  alia 
quest' opera  in  umila  tributo  di  devozione.     New  York,  il  maggio  del  1865." 

Reissued  in  1867  without  other  change  than  the  date  on  the  title-page,  and 
in  1887  under  the  title  of  "  Introduction  to  the  study  of  Dante,"  some  copies 
being  bound  up  with  the  imprint  of  "  London,  yi^/^w  Slark,  1887." 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  95 

Reviewed  in  the  Giornale  del  centenario,  10  sett.  1865,  p.  408;  —  in  the 
Athenaum,  Oct.  28,  1865,  pp.  573-574;  —  in  the  Christian  examiner,  Nov. 
1865,  vol.  Ixxix,  pp.  429-431  ;  —  in  the  American  Presbyterian  and  theological 
review,  1865,  new  series,  vol.  iii,  p.  645;  — in  the  Boston  review,  Jan.  1866, 
vol.  vi,  pp.  138-139.  The  edition  of  1887  was  reviewed  in  the  Saturday  review, 
April  23,  1887,  vol.  Ixiii,  pp.  594-595. 

See  also  [Alger,  W.  R.]  The  character  of  Dante.     1866. 

[Tuckerman,  H.  T.]     Dante  in  1865.     1865. 

Dante's  Divina  commedia.     {In  the  Catholic  world.    1865.    vol.  i,  pp.  268- 
279.) 

Translated  from  Der  Katholik. 

Dor^,  Gustave.    Dante  album.    Seventy-six  photographs  from  select  illustra- 
tions.    Philadelphia,  F.  Leypoldt.     1865.    4°.    Portfolio. 

Title  taken  from  James  Kelly's  "  American  catalogue." 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot.     On  the  original  portraits  of  Dante.     Cambridge, 
University  Press.     1865.    4°-    PP-  ^8.    Portrs. 

50  copies.  "  In  onore  della  festa  per  il  sesto  centenario  di  Dante  in  Firenze 
maggio  1865." 

With  four  photographs,  one  of  the  Arundel  society's  chromo-lithograph  of 
Giotto's  portrait  from  Kirkup's  facsimile  of  it  in  the  possession  of  Lord 
Vernon,  and  three  of  a  cast  from  the  mask  of  Dante  belonging  to  Mr.  Kirkup. 

The  text  is  reprinted  in  full  in  Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine 
comedy,  1867,  i.  PP-  347-353  (^i^d  in  later  editions),  and  a  large  part  of  it  is 
given  in  Clarke,  S.  F.     The  portraits  of  Dante.     1884. 

Translated  into  Japanese  by  T.  Funahashi,  in  the  Aoyama  review,  Dec.  30, 
1893,  PP-  17-24-  (Inserted  in  the  HCL  copy  is  a  letter  from  the  translator  to 
the  author.)  Translated  into  Russian  by  N.  Golovanov  in  the  notes  to  his 
translation  of  the  Inferno,  Moscow,  1896.  CUL. 

Pellico,  Silvio.     Francesca  da  Rimini.     Boston,  De  Fries,  Ibarra  e  Com. 
(cop.  1865.)    sm.  8°.    pp.  62. 

[Tuckerman,  Henry  Theodore.]     Dante  in  1865.     (Jn  the  Nation.     Oct.  5, 
1865.    vol.  i,  pp.  440-442.) 

Speaks  of  the  Sixth  Centenary  and  reviews  Botta's  "  Dante  as  philosopher, 
patriot,  and  poet,"  1865. 


96  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


1866. 

The  Divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow,  vol.  ii.  [Purgatoric]  Boston,  Ticknor  fir* 
Fields.    [Privately  printed.]     1866.    4°.    pp.  (2)  4- 219. 

10  copies.     Copy  in  possession  of  Mr.  Norton  dated  April  i,  1866. 

The  story  of  Ulysses  ;  an  episode  from  Dr.  Parsons'  translation  of  the 
Inferno  of  Dante  [c.  xxvi].  (/«  the  Galaxy.  Aug.  1866.  vol.  i, 
pp.  605-607.) 

HCL  has  a  copy  of  this  extract  with  corrections  in  the  translator's  hand. 

[Translations  from  Dante.]  What  is  love  1  ["  Amore  e  '1  cor  gentil  sono 
una  cosa."]  Beauty  and  virtue.  ["  Due  donne  in  cima  della  mente 
mia."]  Francesca  da  Rimini.  [Inf.  v.  1 15-138.]  [Translated  by  Mrs. 
Mary  Bayard  Clark.]  (/«  Clark,  M.  B.  Mosses  from  a  rolling 
stone,  ^/r.  ^2\€\^,  Wvt.  P.  Smith  &^  Co.  1866.  12°.  pp.  1 58-161.) 
The  translations  are  very  free  and  of  no  poetic  value. 

[Alger,  William  Rounseville.]  The  character  of  Dante.  (/^  the  Christian 
examiner.    July,  1866.    vol.  Ixxxi,  pp.  37-48.) 

Contains  a  notice  of  Botta's  "  Dante  as  philosopher,  patriot,  and  poet,"  1865. 

Calvert,  George  Henry.  To  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  (/«  his  Anyta  and  other 
poems.    Boston,  etc.,  E.  P.  Button  fir»  Co.     1866.     16°.    p.  164.) 

Hitchcock,  Ethan  Allen.  Notes  on  the  Vita  nuova  and  minor  poems  of 
Dante,  together  with  the  New  life  [translated  by  D.  G.  Rossetti],  and 
man^  of  the  poems  [translated  by  D.  G.  Rossetti  and  C.  Lyell]. 
litvf  York,  James  Miller.     1866.     16°.    pp.371. 

[Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward.]  The  price  of  the  Divina  commedia.  {In  her 
Later  lyrics.  By  the  author  of  "  Passion  flowers."  Boston,/.  E.  Tilton 
fir»  Co.     1866.     16°.    pp.  1 49-1 51.) 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.  On  translating  the  Divina  commedia ; 
[three  sonnets].  (/«  the  Atlantic  monthly.  July,  Sept.,  Nov.  1866. 
vol.  xviii,  pp.  II,  273,  544.) 

Continuing  on  the  theme  of  the  sonnet  of  1864.  Though  here  entitled  the 
second,  third,  and  fourth  sonnets,  the  above  are  respectively  the  third,  fifth, 
and  second  of  the  completed  series  of  six  sonnets  as  printed  in  1867  (which 
see). 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  97 

Divina  commedia  ;  [five  sonnets].     (/«  his  Flower-de-luce.     Boston, 

Ticknor  &^  Fields.     1867  [66].    sq.  16°.    pp.  53-64-) 

Includes  the  three  above-mentioned  sonnets,  the  one  of  1864,  and  a  new 
sonnet  here  numbered  the  fifth,  but  afterwards  printed  as  the  sixth  of  the 
completed  series. 

Motive,    (The)  of   Dante's  vision.     (/«  the  Ave  Maria.      Jan.   13,   1866. 
vol.  ii,  p.  21.)  CUL. 

[Norton,  Charles  Eliot.]    Dante  and  his  latest  English  translators.    (/«  the 
North  American  review.     April,  1866.    vol.  cii,  pp.  509-529.) 
A  review  of  the  translations  by  Dayman,  Ford,  Parsons,  and  W.  M.  Rossetti. 


1867. 

La  Divina  commedia  di  Dante  Alighieri ;  testo  comune  colle  variazione  dei 
codici  publicati  da  Carlo  Witte.  Prima  edizione  americana  arricchita 
del  ritratto  di  Dante  per  Gustavo  Dore.  Boston,  De  Vries^  Ibarra  e 
C,  etc.     1867.    8°.    pp.  vii  +  545. 

Printed  at  the  University  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.  The  same  plates  were 
used  in  the  making  of  the  Boston  edition  of  1894,  Z^<?  (5r»  Shepard. 

The  Divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow,  vol.  iii.  [Paradiso.]  Boston,  Tic knor  ^^  Fields. 
[Privately  printed.]     1867.    4°.    pp.  (2)  +  223. 

10  copies.  Copy  in  possession  of  Mr. 'Norton  dated  Feb.  27,  1867,  Long- 
fellow's birthday. 

The  Divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow.    V>o^\.ox\,  Ticknor  &^  Fields.    1867.    3  vols.    8°. 

The  London  octavo  edition  of  1867  {George  Routledge)  and  the  Boston 
edition  of  1872  {James  R.  Osgood  dr^  Co.)  are  from  the  same  plates. 

Same,    hon&on,  George  Routledge  &^  Sons.    1867.    12°.    3  vols,  (with 

continuous  pagination),  pp.  760. 

These  plates  were  used  in  the  making  of  Routledge^s  one-volume  edition, 
many  times  issued  (HCL  having  the  1891  imprint),  and  of  the  Boston  editions 
issued  by/.  R.  Osgood &>  Co.,  187 1,  1878,  etc.,  and  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  <Sr*  Co., 
1884,  1887,  etc.     The  last-mentioned  is  entitled  the  "fifteenth  edition." 

Same.     Leipzig,  B.  Tanchnitz.     1867.     3  vols.     16°.     (Collection  of 

British  authors.     Tauchnitz  ed.  901-903.) 


98  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Reviewed  in  the  Athenaum,  May  i8,  1867,  PP-  655-656,  June  29,  1867, 
pp.  845-846,  Aug.  10,  1867,  PP-  171-172;  —  [by  G.  W.  Curtis]  in  Harper's 
monthly  magazinty  July,  1867,  vol.  xxxv,  pp.  257-258;  —  in  the  Saturday  review^ 
July  6,  1867,  vol.  xxiv,  pp.  27-28;  —  in  the  Spectator,  Aug.  31,  1867,  vol.  xl,  pp. 
981-982;  —  [by  J.  H.  Allen]  in  the  Christian  examiner,  Sept.  1867,  vol.  Ixxxiii, 
pp.  261-263;  —  in  Biblioteca  sacra,  Jan.  1868,  vol.  xxv,  pp.  205-206;  —  by  A.  J. 
Altenhoefer  in  \.h.Q  /ahrbuch  der  deutschen  Dante-Gesellschaft,  1869,  ^d-  "»  PP- 
355-362;  —  in  the  Quarterly  review,  Apr.  1869,  ^o^*  cxxvi,  pp.  413-447; — in 
Hours  at  home,  1875,  vol.  v,  pp.  289-295;  —  [by  C.  L.  Speranza]  in  the  Literary 
world,  Feb.  26,  1881,  vol.  xii,  pp.  80-81.  Also  in  the  following  newspapers, 
cuttings  from  which  are  preserved  in  a  scrap-book  in  HCL  (Dn.  580.6) ;  —  [by 
E.  J.  Cutler]  in  the  Boston  daily  advertiser.  May  4,  1867  ;  —  [by  John 
Fiske]  in  the  New  York  world,  May  31,  June  22,  July  29,  1867  (reprinted  in 
his  "  Unseen  world  and  other  essays,"  1876)  ;  —  [by  T.  W.  Hunter]  in  the 
Philadelphia  press,  July  24,  1867  (answered  by  C.  E.  Norton  in  his  article  on 
"Mr.  Longfellow  and  his  critics,"  1867) ;  —  in  the  London  Chronicle,  July  27, 
1867  ;  —  in  the  New  York  weekly  evening  post,  August  — ,  1867  ;  —  [by  J.  H. 
A.  Bone]  in  the  Cleveland  herald,  July  8,  1867.  Mr.  Bone  also  published, 
presumably  in  the  Cleveland  herald,  an  exceptionally  interesting  account  of  a 
meeting  of  the  "  Dante  Club  ";  this  is  given  entire  in  George  Lowell  Austin's 
"Longfellow;  his  life,  his  works,  his  friends,"  Boston,  Lee  (2r»  Shepard,  1883,  y^ 
pp.  352-361,  and,  in  part,  in  Samuel  Longfellow's  "  Life  of  H.  W.  Longfellow, V^ 
Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  6^  Co.,  1891,  vol.  iii,  pp.  381-386.  \/^ 

See  also  Calvert,  G.  H.     Dante  and  his  latest  translators.     1868. 

[Greene,  G.  W.]   Longfellow's  translation  of  Dante's  Divine  comedy.    1867. 

[Howells,  W.  D.]  Mr.  Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine  comedy.    1867. 

The  white  Mr.  Longfellow.     1896. 

—        Knortz,  K.     Dante  in  Amerika.     1883. 

[Norton,  C.  E.]     Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine  comedy.     1867. 

[ ]    Mr.  Longfellow  and  his  critics.     1867. 

[ ]    Mr.  Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine  comedy.     1867. 

[Sears,  E.  I.]     Dante  and  his  new  translator.     1867. 

The  following  lives  and  sketches  of  Longfellow  contain  accounts  of  his 
study  of  Dante  or  criticism  of  his  translation :  —  Francis  H.  Underwood, 
"  Longfellow  ;  a  biographical  sketch,"  Boston,  1882  (Translation  of  Dante, 
pp.  243-246) ;  W.  S.  Kennedy,  "  Longfellow ;  biography,  anecdote,  letters, 
criticism,"  Cambridge,  1882  (Dante's  Divine  comedy,  pp.  96-102) ;  Eric  S. 
Robertson,  "  Life  of  Longfellow,"  London,  1887,  pp.  166-167;  Karl  Knortz, 
"  Longfellow;  literar-historische  Studie,"  Hamburg,  1879  (Dante-Uebersetzung, 
pp.  107-115);  Alexander  Baumgartner,  "Longfellow's  Dichtungen  ;  ein  litera- 
risches  Zeitbild  aus  dem  Geistesleben  Nordamerika's,"  Freiburg  im  B.,  1887, 
pp.  285-291. 

Longfellow's  notes  and  illustrations  to  the  Inferno  have  been  translated  into 
Russian  by  N.  Golovanov  in  the  latter's  translation  of  the  Inferno,  Moscow,  1896. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


99 


The  first  canticle,  Inferno,  of  the  Divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri. 
Translated  by  Thomas  William  Parsons.  Boston,  De  Vrzes,  Ibarra 
and  Co.     1867.    4°.    pp.  (i)  +  216.    Port.  2indi  illus. 

The  portrait  and  the  75  engravings  are  reduced  from  the  designs  by  Gustave 
Dore.     The  notes  of  1843  ^"^^  omitted. 

Same.  [Without  the  illus.]  Boston,  De  Vries,  Ibarra  and  Co.  1867.  4°. 
pp.  (I)  +  216.  ^ 

Some  copies  bear  the  imprint  of  "  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam"  and  still 
others,  "  London,  Low  d^  Co." 

Reviewed  in  the  Athenceum,  Feb.  22,  1868,  pp.  286-587  ;  —  in  the  Spectator, 
July  18,  1868,  vol.  xU,  pp.  854-855;  —  [by  E.  J.  Cutler]  in  the  Boston  daily 
advertiser,  Oct.  26,  1867  (clipping  preserved  in  HCL  Dante  scrap-book). 

See  also  Calvert,  G.  H.     Dante  and  his  latest  translators.     1868. 

[Finotti,  J.  M.]     Dante  Alighieri.     1868. 

[Norton,  C.  E.]     Dr.  Parsons'  translation  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante.     1867. 

The  New  life  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot  Norton.' 
Boston,  Tic knor  &^  Fields.     1867.    8°.    pp.  140.  ' 

Reviewed  [by  W.  D.  Howells]  in  the  Atlantic  monthly,  Nov.  1867,  vol.  xx, 
pp.  638-639  ;  —  [by  E.  J.  Cutler]  in  the  Boston  daily  ddvertiser,f^ov.  5,  1867 
(clipping  preserved  in  HCL  Dante  scrap-book).  -• 

Alger,  William  Rounseville.  Sketches  of  lonely  characters  :  Dante.  (/« 
his  Solitudes  of  nature  and  of  man  ;  or,  the  loneliness  of  human  life. 
^o^Xo'cv,  Roberts  Bros.     1867  (cop.  1866).     16°.    pp.  213-223.) 

[Greene,  George  Washington.]  Longfellow's  translation  of  Dante's  Divine 
comedy.     {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.    Aug.  1867.    vol.  xx,  pp.  188-198.) 


> 


[Howells,  Willam  Dean.]      Mr.  Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine   yi 

comedy.    {In  the  Nation.    June  20,  1867.    vol.  iv,  pp.  492-494.) 

[Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth.]  [On  translating  the  Divina  commedia; 
six  sonnets.]  {In  Dante.  The  Divine  comedy,  translated  by  H.  W. 
Longfellow.  1867.  vol.  i,  pp.  (1-2);  vol.  ii,  pp.  (1-2);  vol.  iii, 
pp.  (1-2).) 

Printed  as  fly-leaf  mottoes,  without  any  title.  The  first  sonnet  appeared  in 
1864;  the  second,  third,  fifth,  and  sixth  in  1866;  the  fourth  was  here  printed 
for  the  first  time.  Reprinted  in  Longfellow's  poetical  works  under  the  title  of 
"  Divina  commedia,"  in  the  series  known  as  "  Flower  de  Luce  ";  also  in  C.  H. 
Crandall's  "  Representative  sonnets  by  American  poets,"  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &=  Co.,  1890,  pp.  25-27.  C.  S.  Reinhart  has  illustrated  the  first  sonnet 
by  a  woodcut  which  appears  in  the  illustrated  folio  ed.  of  Longfellow's 
"Poetical  works,"  Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  6^  Co.  [1866],  vol.  ii,  p.  509. 


lOO  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Translated  into  German  by  A.  J.  Altenhoefer  in  "  Jahrbuch  der  deutschen 
Dante-Gesellschaft,"  1869,  Bd.  ii,  pp.  359-360;  —  by  Pauline  Schanz  in  the 
same,  pp.  361-362; — (with  the  exception  of  the  fourth  sonnet)  by  Alexander 
Baumgartner  in  his  "  Longfellow's  Dichtungen ;  ein  literarisches  Zeitbild  aus 
dem  Geistesleben  Nordamerika's,"  2*  Aufl.,  Freiburg  im  B.,  Herder,  1887,  pp. 
288-290 ;  —  by  Hermann  Simon  in  his  "  Sammtliche  poetische  Werke  von 
H.  W.  Longfellow,"  Leipzig,  P.  Reclam  [1883],  vol.  ii,  pp.  14-16. 

[Norton,  Charles  Eliot.]    Dr.  Parsons'  translation  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante. 
(/«  the  Nation.    Oct.  3,  1867.    vol.  v,  pp.  269-271.) 

[ ]  Longfellow's  translation  of   the   Divine  comedy.      (/«  the  North 

American  review.    July,  1867.    vol.  cv,  pp.  124-148.) 

[ ]  Mr.  Longfellow  and  his  critics.     (/;/  the  Nation.     Sept.  19,  1867. 

vol.  V,  pp.  226-228.) 

[ ]  Mr.  Longfellow's  translation  of  the  Divine  comedy.    (Jn  the  Nation. 

May  9,  1867.    vol.  iv,  pp.  369-370.) 

[Sears,  Edward  I.]      Dante  and  his  new  translator.      {In  the   National 
quarterly  review.     1867.     vol.  xv,  pp.  286-316.) 

in  abusive  review  of  Longfellow's  work.    Answered  by  C.  E.  Norton  in  his 
article  on  "  Mr.  Longfellow  and  his  critics,"  1867. 


\* 


1868. 


Calvert,  George  Henry.     Dante  and  his  latest  translators.     {In  Putnam's 
magazine.     Feb.  1868.     New  series,  vol.  i,  pp.  155-167.) 

A  review  of  the  translations  by  Dayman,  Parsons,  and  Longfellow,  with 
original  renderings  of  Inf.  iii.  1-9,  v.  11 5-142,  xxxiii.  46-75,  and  Par.  xxxiii. 
1-8. 

Reprinted  in  his  "Essays  aesthetical,"  Boston,  Lee  ^  Shepard,  etc.,  1875, 
pp.  114-157,  and  in  Broadway  (London)  [1871],  new  series,  vol.  iii,  pp.  232- 
249. 

[Finotti,  Joseph  Maria.]     Dante  Alighieri.    {In  the  Catholic  world.     Nov. 
1868.     vol.  viii,  pp.  213-222.) 

Reviews  "The  first  canticle  of  the  Divine  comedy,  translated  by  T.  W. 
Parsons,"  1867. 


*^*  A  review  of  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Jahrbuch  der  deutschen  Dante- 
Gesellschaft "  appeared  in  the  American  athettceutn  (N.  Y.),  May  9,  1868,  vol.i, 
pp.  324-325.  CUL. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  loi 


1869. 

Sonnet  from  the  Vita  nuova  of  Dante.    [Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare.] 
.     Translated  by  T[homas]  W[illiam]   P[arsons].     (Jn  the  Catholic 
world.     Jan.  1S69.     vol.  viii,  p.  545.) 

Reprinted,  with  a  marked  improvement  in  the  fifth  line,  in  Parsons'  **  The 
old  house  at  Sudbury,"  Cambridge,  John  Wilson  6^  Son,  1870,  p.  86  ;  "The 
Shadow  of  the  obelisk  and  other  poems,"  London,  Hatchards,  1872  ;  "  Poems," 
Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  dr=  Co.,  1893,  p.  219.  Also  in  S.  Waddington's  "The 
sonnets  of  Europe,"  London,  Walter  Scott,  1886,  p.  14;  in  the  Nation,  Dec.  8, 
1892,  vol.  Iv,  p.  431. 

Bryant,  William  CuUen.  Dante;  [poem].  (Jn  the  Atlantic  monthly. 
Jan.  1869.     vol.  xxiii,  p.  81.) 

With  note.  Written  at  the  time  of  the  six  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Dante.  Reprinted  in  his  "  Poetical  works,"  New  York,  1879,  PP-  3^5~ 
316,  and  later  editions. 

Translated  into  Italian  prose  by  S.  Frenfanelli  Cibo  in  his  "  Guglielmo 
Bryant."     Roma,  Forzani.     1882.     16°.     pp.  106-107.  CUL. 

1870.  ^ 

An  Easter  lesson.  [Par.  v.  73-80.]  [Translated  by  Thomas  William 
Parsons.]  {In  Parsons,  T.  W.  The  old  house  at  Sudbury.  Q2im- 
hndge.,  John  Wilson  ^r' Son.  [Privately  printed.]  1870.  12°.  p.  100. 
Reprinted  in  Parsons'  "The  shadow  of  the  obelisk  and  other  poems," 
London,  Hatchards,  1872,  and,  under  the  title  of  "A  lesson  for  Lent,"  in  his 
"Circum  praecordia,"  Boston,  /.  G.  Cupples  [1892],  p.  82. 

Translation  of  the   first  canto  of  the   Purgatorio  of   Dante.      By  T.  W. 

Parsons.     (Jn  the  Catholic  world.     Nov.  1870.    vol.  xii,  pp.  145-149.) 

CUL  has  an  interesting  volume  made  up  of  the  translations  of  Purg.  i-xxi, 

XXX,  which  Dr.  Parsons  published  in  the  Catholic  world  between  1870  and  1883. 

1871. 

Geibel,  Emanuel.  Dante ;  [translated  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Hamilton  Jones 
Hooper].  {In  Hooper,  L.  H.  J.  Poems.  Philadelphia,/.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  &^  Co.     1871.     12°.     pp.  164-165.) 

Hugo,  Victor  (Marie).  Lines  written  in  a  copy  of  the  Divina  commedia ; 
[translated  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Hamilton  Jones  Hooper].  (/«  Hooper, 
L.  H.  J.  Poems.  Philadelphia,  /.  B.  Lippincott  &^  Co.  1871.  12°. 
p.  184.) 


/ 


02  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


1872. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.  Canto  second.  [Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.] 
(/«  the  Catholic  world.     Jan.  1872.     vol.  xiv,  pp.  503-506.) 

Same.     Canto  third.     (/;/  the  Catholic  world.     Sept.  1872.     vol.  xv, 

pp.  730-733.) 

Same.     Canto  fifth.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     Dec.  1872.     vol.  xvi, 

pp.  319-322.) 

Benson,  Eugene.  Dante  and  Shakespeare.  {In  Appleton's  journal. 
April  27,  1872.     vol.  vii,  pp.  468-469.)  CCL. 

[Dennett,  John  Richard.]  Miss  M.  F.  Rossetti's  "Shadow  of  Dante."  {In 
the  Nation.     July  11,  1872.     vol.  xv,  pp.  28-29.) 

[Lowell,  James  Russell.]  The  shadow  of  Dante,  being  an  essay  towards 
studying  himself,  his  world,  and  his  pilgrimage,  by  Maria  Francesca 
Rossetti,  Boston,  1872  ;  [a  review].  {In  the  North  American  review. 
July,  1872.     vol.  cxv,  pp.  139-209.) 

Contains,  p.  178,  a  translation  of  the  sonnet  from  the  Vita  nuova,  "  Oltre  la 
spera,  che  piii  larga  gira,"  "  in  which,"  says  Lowell,  "  the  meaning  is  preserved 
so  far  as  is  possible  where  the  grace  is  left  out."  This  translation  is  reprinted 
in  S.  Waddington's  "The  sonnets  of  Europe,"  London,  Walter  Scott,  1886, 
p.  19. 

"  Hard  at  work  all  the  while  upon  an  article  about  Dante,  with  Miss 
Rossetti's  book  for  a  text.  I  have  not  made  so  much  of  it  as  I  should  if  my 
time  had  been  less  broken.  As  it  was,  I  had  to  keep  the  press  going  from  day 
to  day."  —  Lowell's  "  Letters,"  ii,  p.  80.  "  The  article  on  Dante  was  written  in 
all  the  distraction  of  getting  .away  [to  Europe],  with  the  thermometer  at  95°, 
and  keeping  abreast  of  the  printers,  so  that  I  could  not  arrange  and  revise 
properly."  —  Same,  p.  84. 

Reade,  John.  Paolo  and  Francesca;  [poem].  {In  the  Canadian  monthly. 
Jan.  1872.     vol.  i,  pp.  62-63.)  CUL. 

1873. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.      Canto  fourth.      [Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.] 
{In  the  Catholic  world.     Dec.  1873.     vol.  xviii,  pp.  299-302.) 
"With  a  note  on  Dante's  cosmogony,  comparing  it  with  that  of  Columbus. 

Same.     Canto  sixth.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     Feb.  1873.     vol.  xvi, 

pp.  581-584.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  103 

Same.    Canto  seventh.    (In  the  Catholic  world.    April,  1873.    vol.  xvii, 

pp.  24-27.) 
^^  See  also  Barlow,  H.  C.     Parsons'  Purgatory.     1873. 

• Same.     Canto  eighth.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     May,  1873.   vol.  xvii, 

pp.  1 58-161.) 

Same.     Canto  ninth.     (Jn  the  Catholic  world.     June,  1873.    vol.  xvii, 

pp.  304-307.) 

Same.     Canto  eleventh.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     Nov.  1873.     vol. 

xviii,  pp.  166-170.) 

Barlow,  Henry  Clark.  Parsons'  Purgatory.  (/«  the  Athenaeum.  June  14, 
1873.     pp.  760-761.) 

On  the  translation  of  "  Indico  legno  lucido  e  sereno,"  Purg.  vii.  74,  by 
"  India's  rich  wood,  heaven's  lucid  blue  serene."    (Catholic  world,  April,  1873.) 

Siguier,  Ulysse  Francois  Ange,  conte.  Epilogue  de  la  Divine  comddie : 
I'enfer,  un  coin  du  paradis  et  incidemment  une  ame  du  purgatoire. 
Mexico,  Diaz  de  Leon  et  White.  1873.  sm.  8°.  pp.  186  +  (3). 
Frontisp.  CUL. 

Vinton,  Frederic.  St.  Patrick^s  Purgatory  and  the  Inferno  of  Dante.  (/« 
Biblioteca  sacra.     April,  1873.     vol.  xxx,  pp.  275-286.) 

1874. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.  Canto  twelfth.  [Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.]  {In 
the  Catholic  world.     Feb.  1874.     vol.  xviii,  pp.  587-590.) 

Same.      Canto  fourteenth.       {In  the    Catholic  world.      July,  1874. 

vol.  xix,  pp.  450-453.) 

Dante  praises  Beatrice.  [Sonnet,  "  Negli  occhi  porta  la  mia  donna  amore," 
from  the  Vita  nuova.]  Translated  by  Titus  Munson  Co  an.  {In 
Lippincott's  magazine.     Aug.  1874.     vol.  xiv,  p.  191.) 

Coan,  Titus  Munson.  On  reading  Dante's  "New  life";  [sonnet].  {In 
Lippincott's  magazine.    Oct.  1874.    vol.  xiv,  p.  410.) 

[Capri,  Pio  Giuseppe.]      The  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Divina  commedia  of 

Dante.    [Translated  by  David  Moves.]    {In  Ave  Maria.    Sept.  5,  12, 

19,  26;    Oct.  17,  24;    Nov.  7,  14,  21,  1874.     vol.  X,  pp.  561-564,  577- 

578,  593-595,  609-612,  657-659,  673-674,  713-715.  733-734,  753-754-) 

Reprinted  in  1876. 


I04  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Rossetti's  translations  from  the  early  Italian  poets.  {In  the  Nation.  Mar.  5, 
1874.     vol.  xviii,  pp.  159-160.) 

1875. 

Beatris.  [Vita  nuova,  canz.  iii.  1 5-28.]  [Translated  by  Thomas  William 
Parsons.]  {In  Parsons,  T.  W.  The  Willey  house,  and  sonnets.  QdiVCi- 
hn^gt,  John  Wilson  6^  Son.    [Privately  printed.]     1875.     12°.    p.  27.) 

Smith,  J.  A.  Dante.  {In  the  Baptist  quarterly.  1875.  vol.  ix,  pp.  322- 
338.) 

Soldan,  Louis  Frank.  Dante.  {In  the  Western.  March,  April,  1875. 
New  series,  vol.  i,  pp.  160-179,  243-255.) 

Same,  separately  printed.     St.  Louis.     [1875.]     8°.     pp.32. 

1876. 

The   antepurgatorio   [cantos   i-ix].       Translated   by   Thomas   William 
Parsons.     London,  Hatchards.     1876.     4°.     pp.  (ii)  +  62. 
Published  during  the  translator's  residence  in  England. 

[Capri,  Pic  Giuseppe.]  The  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Divina  commedia  of 
Dante.  [Translated  by  David  Moves.]  n.  p.,  n.  d.  [Notre  Dame,  Ind. 
1876.]     8°.     pp.  49.     (Ave  Maria  series.)  CUL. 

Inserted  in  the  CUL  copy  are  two  autograph  letters  from  the  translator. 

Flske,  John.     Longfellow's  Dante.     {In  his  The  unseen  world  and  other 
essays.    Boston,/.  R.  Osgood &»  Co.    1876.     12°.    pp.  237-265.) 
Slightly  revised  from  its  original  form  as  a  review  of  1867. 

Gilder,  Richard  Watson.  Francesca  and  Paolo  ;  [sonnet].  {In  his  The 
new  day  ;  a  poem  in  songs  and  sonnets.  New  York,  Scribner,  Arm- 
strong &^  Co.    1876.     16°.    p.  7I-) 

Reprinted,  with  a  few  changes,  in  the  later  editions  of  the  above  as  a 
separate  work  and  as  embodied  in  his  "  Five  books  of  songs  "  and  his  "  Lyrics 
and  other  poems." 

Lowell,  James  Russell.  Dante.  {In  his  Among  my  books.  2d  series. 
'Boston,  J.  R.  Osgood  &^  Co.     1876.     12°.     pp.  i -124.) 

This  essay  consists  of  the  biographical  sketch  of  1859  broken  up  and  inter- 
mingled with  the  North  American  review  article  of  1872.  Reprinted  in  later 
editions  of  Lowell's  essays. 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  105 

Marvin,  Frederic  Rowland.     Dante.    {In  the  Western.    1876.    New  series^ 
vol.  ii,  pp.  65-72.) 

Schwerdtfeger,  Emil.    Dante.    (/«  M^  Cornell  review.    Feb.  1876.   vol.  iv, 
pp.  215-217.)  CUL. 

Turner,  Charles  Tennyson.     Dante  and  Beatrice ;  [sonnet].    {In  the  Inter- 
national review  (New  York).     1876.    vol.  iii,  p.  99.) 


*,ie*  Reviews  :  —  Rossetti's  "  Dante  and  his  circle  "  in  Lippincotfs  magazine^ 
Feb.  1876,  vol.  xvi,  pp.  262-263. 

1877. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.    Canto  fifteenth.    Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.    {In 
the  Catholic  world.    May,  1877.    vol.  xxv,  pp.  1 71-174.) 

McAllister,  F.  M.      Dante's  Inferno.     {In  the  American  church  review. 
1877.    vol.  xxix,  pp.  1 13-129.) 

Soldan,  Louis  Frank.     Dante's  Purgatorio.     {In  the  Western.     Jan.  1877. 
New  series,  vol.  iii,  pp.  21-32.) 

Same,  separately  printed.    St.  Louis.    [1877.]    8°.    pp.24. 


*^*  Reviews  :  —  Mrs.  Oliphant's  "  Dante  "  in  the  series  of  "  Foreign  classics 
for  English  readers  "  (Edinburgh,  Blackwood,  1877),  was  bound  up  in  this  coun- 
try with  the  imprint  of  "  Philadelphia,  /.  B.  Lippincott  &"  Co.'"'  and  reviewed  in 
the  Nation,  Dec.  6,  1877,  vol.  xxv,  p.  354;  —  in  the  Literary  world,  Nov.  1877^ 
vol.  viii,  p.  TOO ;  —  in  the  Atlantic  monthly,  April,  1878,  vol.  xli,  pp.  551-552. 

1878. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.  Canto  sixteenth.  Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.  {In 
the  Catholic  world.    May,  1878.    vol.  xxvii,  pp.  272-275.) 

Same.     Canto  seventeenth,      {hi  the  Catholic  world.     July,  1878. 

vol.  xxvii,  pp.  498-501.)  y 

Noticed  and  quoted  in  the  Journal  of  speculative  philosophy,  Oct.  1878,  ]y^ 
vol.  xii,  pp.  434-435- 

Buonarroti,  Michel  Angelo.  Dante  ;  [sonnet,  "  Quanto  dime  si  de'  non  si 
puo  dire"].  [Translated  by  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow.] 
{In  Longfellow,  H.  W.  K^ramos  and  other  poems.  Boston,  HoughtoUy 
Osgood^  Co.     1878.     12°.    p.  147.) 


Io6  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In  the  series  of  "  Seven  sonnets  and  a  canzone  from  the  Italian  of  Michael 
Angelo,"  which  had  been  lying  in  manuscript  since  1874.  Reprinted  in  Long- 
fellow's "  Poetical  works  ";  —  in  C.  F.  Bates'  "  Seven  voices  of  sympathy  from 
the  writings  of  H.  W.  Longfellow,"  1882,  p.  188;  —  in  C.  H.  Crandall's 
'•Representative  sonnets  by  American  poets,"  Boston,  1890,  p.  35. 

H[ardy],  A[rthur]  S[herbourne].     Francesca  of  Rimini ;  a  poem.    Phila- 
delphia, /.  B.  Lippincott  fir*  Co.     1878.    8°.    pp.  46. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  world,  Dec.  1878,  vol.  ix,  pp.  111-112. 

Lawrence,  Eugene.    The  Italian  poets.   (/«  Harper's  magazine.  May,  1878. 
vol.  Ivi,  pp.  816-828.    Illus:) 

pp.  816-821,  Dante.  With  woodcuts  of  the  following:  "Dante  reciting  his 
poem  to  Beatrice,"  "  Dante  at  Ravenna,"  "  Dante's  monument,"  and  Raphael 
Morghen's  portrait  of  Dante. 

1879. 

IJante's  Purgatorio.    Canto  tenth.    Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.   (/«  the 
Catholic  world.    June,  1879.    vol.  xxix,  pp.  289-292.) 

Same.  Canto  thirteenth.    (/«  M^  Catholic  world.    Dec.  1879.   vol.  xxx, 

pp.  350-353) 

Ingleby,   C.   M.,  and  others.     Translations  of  Dante.     {In  the  Literary 
world.     Feb.  i,  Mar.  29,  1879.     vol.  x,  pp.  45-46,  108.) 

Russell,  Addison  Peale.     Library  notes.     New  ed.,  revised  and  enlarged, 
Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  fir»  Co.     1879.     ^2°.    pp.  (i)  +  402. 

pp.  170-17 1,  A  story  concerning  Dante,  from  Domenichi's  Facetiae  ;  p.  302, 
The  prodigal  and  avaricious  in  the  fourth  circle  of  the  Inferno. 


*^,^*  Reviews  :  —  Church's  "Dante"  in  the  Literary  world,  Mar.  15,  1879. 
vol.  X,  pp.  85-86. 

1880. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.   Canto  eighteenth.  Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.  (/« 
the  Catholic  world.    April,  1 880.    vol.  xxxi,  pp.  1 7-20.) 

Same.    Canto  nineteenth.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     July,  1880.    vol. 

xxxi,  pp.  450-453.) 

Same.    Canto  twentieth.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     Dec.  1 880.     vol. 

xxxii,  pp.  420-424.) 
\\     HCL  has  proof-sheets  of  this  and  canto  xxx  accompanied  by  autograph 
""Tetters  from  the  translator  to  C.  E.  Norton. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


107 


Dante.     (/«  the  American  catholic  quarterly  review.     Oct.  1880.     vol.  v, 
PP-  715-754-) 

Scotti,  Carlo  Francesco.     Dante  :  la  patria  y  la  familia  ;  estudios.     Buenos 
Aires,  M.  Biedma.     1880.     16°.     pp.  20. 


*jit*  Reviews  :  —  Butler's  "  Purgatory "  by  T.  F.  Crane  in  the  North 
American  review,  Nov.  1880,  vol.  cxxxi,  pp.  462-463,  [by  C.  E.  Norton]  in 
the  Nation,  Dec.  2,  1880,  vol.  xxxi,  pp.  397-398  ;  —  Coronini's  "  Ueber  eine 
Stelle  in  Dante's  Inferno  [i.  28-29]  "  by  A.  M.  Elliott  in  the  American  journal 
of  philology,  May,  1880,  vol.  i,  p.  234. 

1881. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.  Canto  twenty-first.  Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons. 
(Jn  the  Catholic  world.     Dec.  1881.    vol.  xxxiv,  pp.  416-419.) 

Buonarroti,  Michel  Angelo.  ["  Dal  ciel  discese,  e  col  mortal  suo."  — 
"  Quanto  dime  si  de'  non  si  puo  dire."  Sonnets  on  Dante.]  [Trans- 
lated by  Mrs.  Ednah  Dow  Littlehale  Cheney.]  {In  Cheney,  E. 
D.  L.  Gleanings  in  the  field  of  art.  Boston,  Lee  £r»  Shepard.  1881 
(cop.  1880).     8°.     pp.  127-128.) 

Reprinted  in  Mrs.  Cheney's  edition  of  the  "  Poems  of  Michael  Angelo." 
Boston,  Lee  6^  Shepard.     1885.     sm.  8°.     pp.  54-57. 

Creighton,  Mandell.    Dante.    Bangor,  Me.,  Q.  P.  index;  New  York,  /.  W. 
Christopher.    July30,  1881.     12°.    pp.8.     {The  monograph.    No.  xvi.) 
The  monograph  was  edited  by  W.  M.  Griswold.     The  above  essay  first 
appeared  in  Macmillah' s  magazine,  1873-74. 

Dante  Society,  Philadelphia.  First  annual  dinner;  [menu,  with  quota- 
tions from  Dante].     Saturday,  May  14,  1881. 

Mead,  Edwin  Doak.  Dante  in  America.  {In  the  Boston  evening  transcript. 
Saturday,  May  14,  188 1.) 

Muir,  Marion  {afterwards  Mrs.  Richardson).  Dante  Alighieri;  [poem]. 
{In  the  Ave  Maria.    Aug.  13,  1881.    vol.  xvii,  p.  657.)  CUL. 

1882. 

Dante's  praise  of  Beatrice.    ["Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare."]    [Trans- 
lated by  MiNOT  Judson  Savage.]    {In  Savage,  M.  J.    Poems.   Boston, 
George  H.  Ellis.     1882.     16°.    p.  91.) 
A  very  free  rendering,  not  in  the  sonnet  form. 


lo8  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Branchi,  Eugenic.     The  tomb  of  Dante,  and  his  portrait  at  Ravenna.    (/« 
the  Catholic  world.     Dec.  1882.    vol.  xxxvi,  pp.  352-365.) 
Translated  from  Branchi's  article  in  La  rassegna  nazionale,  1881. 

Buonarroti,  Michel  Angelo.  Sonnet  on  Dante.  ['*  Dal  ciel  discese,  e  col 
mortal  suo."]  [Translated  by  Henry  Charles  Lea.]  {In  Lea,  H.  C. 
Translations  and  other  rhymes.  V\)\\2ii\t\pW\?i,  privately  printed.  1882. 
12°.     p.  lOI.) 

[Crane,  Thomas  Frederick.]  The  legendary  Dante.  {In  the  Cornell  review. 
March,  1882.    vol.  ix,  pp.  189-200.) 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  First  annual  report.  Cambridge,  John 
Wilson  &*  Son.     1882.    8°.    pp.25. 

Contains  the  remarks  of  C.  E.  Norton  upon  Longfellow's  lifelong  devotion 
to  Dante  and  upon  his  connection  with  the  Dante  Society.  Reviewed  in  the 
Literary  world,  Sept.  22,  1883,  vol.  xiv,  pp.  305-306. 

See  also  Knortz,  K.     Dante  in  Amerika.     1883. 

%*  In  June,  1881,  a  circular  was  issued  by  the  newly  founded  Dante  Society 
proposing  to  publish  by  subscription  the  then  inedited  Latin  comment  of 
Benvenuto  da  Imola.  In  December  of  the  same  year  another  circular  was 
issued  withdrawing  the  proposal,  owing  to  Mr.  Vernon's  project  of  carrying 
out  his  father's  design  of  printing  the  comment.  The  correspondence,  includ- 
ing letters  from  Mr.  Vernon,  Sir  James  Lacaita,  Sir  W.  F.  Pollock,  W.  J.  Still- 
man,  Federigo  Bencini  (the  copyist  employed  by  the  Society),  Dominigo 
Fransoni,  and  Mrs.  Caroline  C.  Marsh,  has  lately  been  presented  to  the  HCL. 

Delff,  Heinrich  Karl  Hugo.  Dante's  epoch  of  culture,  and  the  relation  of 
the  "  Convito "  to  the  "  Divina  commedia."  From  the  German  by 
A[dolph]  E[rnst]  Kroeger.  {In  the  Journal  of  speculative  philo- 
sophy.   April,  1882.    vol.  xvi,  pp.  142-156.) 

The  original  article,  "  Ueber  das  Verhaltniss  des  *  Gastmahls '  zu  der  *  Gott- 
lichen  Komodie'  und  liber  die  Bildungsepochen  Dante's,"  appeared  in  the 
Jahrbuch  der  deutschen  Dante-Gesellschaft,  187 1,  Bd.  iii,  pp.  59-77. 

Sanborn,  Mrs.  Frances  B.  Dante.  {In  the  Unitarian  review.  March,  1882. 
vol.  xvii,  pp.  21 1-224.) 

1883. 

Dante's  Purgatorio.  Canto  thirtieth.  [Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.] 
{In  the  Catholic  world.     April,  1883.     vol.  xxxvii,  pp.  19-22.) 

Allen,  Joseph  Henry.  Dante.  {In  his  Christian  history  in  its  three  great 
periods  ;  second  period,  the  Middle  age.  Boston,  Roberts  Bros.  1883. 
16°.    pp.  251-277.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


109 


Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Second  annual  report.  Cambridge, 
John  Wilson  &^  Co.  1883.    8°.    pp.  36. 

Contains  "  Le  vite  di  Dante  e  del  Petrarca,  scritte  da  Leonardo  Aretino," 
with  a  prefatory  note. 

Knortz,  Karl.  Dante  in  Amerika.  i^In  the  New-Yorker  belletristisches 
Journal.    Oct.  31,  1883.) 

Given  up  to  an  account  of  Longfellow's  studies  in  Dante  and  to  the 
newly  founded  Dante  Society.  Reprinted  in  his  "  Geschichte  der  Nord- 
Amerikanischen  Literatur,"  Berlin,  Liijrtenoder,  1891,  Bd.  ii,  pp.  305-309. 

1884. 

Blow,  Miss  Susan  E.      Dante's  Inferno.      {In  the  Journal  of  speculative 
philosophy.    April,  1884.    vol.  xviii,  pp.  1 21-138.) 
Reprinted  in  her  "  Study  of  Dante,"  1886. 

Clarke,  Miss  Sarah  Freeman.  Notes  on  the  exile  of  Dante  ;  from  his 
sentence  of  banishment  while  in  Rome,  1302,  to  his  death  in  Ravenna, 
1321.  {In  the  Century  magazine.  March,  April,  1884.  vol.  xxvii, 
PP-  734-752,  833-849.) 

The  portraits  of  Dante.      {In  the  Century  magazine.      Feb.  1884. 

vol.  xxvii,  pp.  574-581.    Illus.) 

Reprints  the  larger  part  of  Professor  Norton's  article  on  the  portraits  of 
Dante,  1867,  and  gives  Dr  Parsons'  "Lines  on  a  bust  of  Dante."  The  illus- 
trations are  woodcuts  of  the  death-mask,  the  bust  in  the  Naples  museum,  the 
profile  in  the  tomb  at  Ravenna,  and  the  portraits  by  Giotto  and  Raphael. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Third  annual  report.  Cambridge,  John 
Wilson  &^  Co.     1884.    8°.    pp.27. 

Contains  "  A  list  of  works  relating  to  Dante  printed  in  the  United  States  of 
America"  [compiled  by  Philip  Coombs  Knapp,  Jr.]. 

Noticed  in  the  Literary  world,  July  26,  1884,  vol.  x,  p.  249. 

Durant,  Miss  H^loise  {afterwards  Mrs.  Rose].  Dante's  mask  ;  [sonnet]. 
{In  her  Pine-needles,  or  sonnets  and  songs.  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam'' s 
Sons.     1884.     12°.    p.  24.) 

K[napp],  P[hilip]  C[oombs],  jr.  Dante.  {In  the  Encyclopaedia  americana ; 
or,  American  supplement  to  the  Encyclopaedia  brittanica.  Philadelphia, 
etc.,  Hubbard  Bros.     1884.    4°.    vol.  ii,  pp.  336-338.) 

The  article  is  devoted  to  the  history  of  Dantesque  studies  in  America. 

Lawton,  William  Cranston.  The  underworld  in  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Dante. 
{In  the  Atlantic  monthly.    July,  1884.    vol.  liv,  pp.  99-110.) 


no  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Lord,  John.  Dante  ;  rise  of  modern  poetry.  (///  his  Beacon  lights  of 
history,  vol.  iii.  New  York,  Fords,  Howard  &*  Hurlburt.  1884. 
12-.     pp.  21-55.) 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot.  Dante's  portrait  in  the  Bargello.  (/«  the  Century 
magazine.    April,  1884.    vol.  xxvii,  p.  956.) 

An  open  letter  regarding  the  controversy  over  the  painter  of  this  portrait. 

On  the  reading  of  Dante.  (/«  the  Century  magazine.  Feb.  1884.  vol.  xxvii. 
p.  629.) 

Editorial  note  apropos  of  the  Dante  articles  printed  in  the  Century  magazine 
during  1884. 

Pelton,  Marion  L.  An  echo  of  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  (/«  the  Andover  review, 
Aug.  1884.    vol.  ii,  p.  175.) 

Robertson,  Donald.  Dante  and  another ;  [sonnet].  {In  his  Rhymes. 
l^tyN  York,  J.  J.  Little  Qr'  Co.     1884.    8°.    p.  11.) 

Rossetti,  Miss  Christina  Georgina.  Dante  :  the  poet  illustrated  out  of  the 
poem.    {In  the  Century  magazine.    Feb.  1884.    vol.  xxvii,  pp.  566-573.) 

Wetherill,  Miss  Julie  K.  {afterwards  Mrs.  Baker).     Francesca  to  Paolo  \ 
[quatrain].    {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.    Nov.  1884.    vol.  liv,  p.  594.) 
Reprinted  in  the  Magazine  of  poetry,  1892,  vol.  iv,  p.  66. 

1885. 

Francesca  da  Rimini :  Dante's  Inferno,  canto  v,  verses  73-123;  an  attempt 
at  a  literal  translation  in  blank  verse  [by  John  Watts  De  Peyster]. 
[New  York,  1885.]    [Privately  printed.]    4°.    pp.8.     Orn. 

pp.  5-8,  Notes.     Inserted  in  the  HCL  copy  is  an  autograph  letter  from  the 
translator  concerning  this  pamphlet. 

Divina  comedia  de  Dante.  Traducgao  [by]  Jose  Pedro  Xavier  Pinheiro. 
Rio-de-Janiero.     1885. 

Bicker,  Anton.     Dante.     A  rare  collection  of  texts,  commentaries,  etc.,  of 
Dante's  Divina  commedia  [offered  for  sale].     Cincinnati,  A.  Bicker, 
1885.    8°.    pp.  12. 
Contains  172  titles. 

Blow,  Miss  Susan  E.     Dante's  Purgatorio.    {In  the  Journal  of  speculative 
philosophy.    Jan.  1885.    vol.  xix,  pp.  61-79.) 
Reprinted  in  her  "  Study  of  Dante,"  1886. 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  m 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge^  Mass.  Fourth  annual  report.  Cambridge, 
John  Wilson  &^  Son.     1885.    8°.    pp.  31. 

Contains  "  Additional  notes  on  the  Divine  comedy  by  Henry  Wadsworth 
Longfellow,"  with  a  prefatory  note  by  C.  E.  N[orton],  who  prepared  them 
for  publication.  They  were  inserted  in  their  respective  places  among  the  notes 
to  the  new  edition  of  Longfellow's  translation,  1886. 

[Farrar,  Frederic  William.]  [Lecture  on  Dante  ;  extracts.]  (/;/  the  Critic. 
Oct.  31,  1885.    vol.  iv,  pp.  212-213.) 

The  lecture  is  given  entire  in  Farrar's  "  Sermons  and  addresses  delivered  in 
America,"  London,  1886,  pp.  295-327. 

Lane,  William  Coolidge,  compiler.  The  Dante  collections  in  the  Harvard 
college  and  Boston  public  libraries.  Part  I.  Cambridge,  issued  by  the 
Library  of  Harvard  University .  1885.  8°.  pp.  18.  (Bibliographical 
contributions,  edited  by  Justin  Winsor.     No.  7.) 

First  published  in  the  Harvard  University  Bulletin,  May,  Oct.  1885. 
The  completed  catalogue  was  published  in  1891. 
Noticed  in  the  Critic,  Oct.  31,  1885,  ^°^-  ^v»  P-  204. 

Unity  Study  Class,  St.  Paul,  Minn.     Season  of  1885-86.    Dante's  Divine 
comedy.     [St.  Paul.     1885.]    24°.    pp.  4. 
List  of  topics  for  study. 

Venable,  William  Henry.  Dante,  after  reading  the  Paradiso  ;  [sonnet]. 
{In  his  Melodies  of  the  heart ;  songs  of  freedom,  and  other  poems. 
Cincinnati,  Robert  Clarke  6^  Co.    1885.     12°.    p.  59.) 


\    *j|f*  Reviews  :  —  Minchin's  and  Sibbald's  translations  of  the  Divina  com- 
media  in  the  Nation,  June  25,  1885,  vol.  xl,  pp.  524-525. 

1886. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow.  [Edited,  with  introductory  note,  by  Horace 
Elisha  Scudder.]  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &^  Co.  i886. 
3  vols.    8°.    Port,  of  translator. 

. Same.    [Large  paper  ed.]    Cambridge,  Riverside  Press.    3  vols.    8°. 

3  portrs.  of  translator. 

Also  bound  up  as  vols.  9-1  r  of  "'  The  writings  of  H.  W.  Longfellow,  with 
bibliographical  and  critical  notes,"  in  14  vols. 


112  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In  this  edition  are  included  the  added  notes,  "  made  from  time  to  time  by 
Mr.  Longfellow,  during  the  later  years  of  his  life,"  which  Mr.  Norton  printed 
in  the  fourth  annual  report  of  the  Dante  Society;  the  further  illustrations  to 
the  Purgatono,  which  were  there  merely  referred  to,  are  here  printed  in  full. 

See  an  article  on  Longfellow's  life  in  the  Saturday  review,  Apr.  3,  1886, 
vol.  Ixi,  p.  476;  quoted  in  the  Critic,  Apr.  17,  1886,  vol.  v,  pp.  198-199. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow,  with  an  introduction  by  Henry  Morley. 
London,  George  Routledge  fir»  Sons.  1886  [85].  12°.  pp.  xii  -f  339 
(Morley's  Universal  library,  28). 

pp.  [iii]-vii,  "Introduction."  Without  the  notes  or  "illustrations."  HCL 
has  a  copy  from  the  same  plates,  entitled  "  2d  edition." 

Adams,  Oscar  Fay.  Francesca  and  Paolo.  {In  his  Post-laureate  idyls,  and 
other  poems.    Boston,  D.  Lothrop  (Sr»  Co.     (cop.  1886.)     16°.    p.  142.) 

Azarias,  Brother  [Patrick  Francis  Mullany].  The  spiritual  idea  in 
Dante's  Divina  commedia.  (/«  the  American  Catholic  quarterly 
review.     July,   1886.     vol.  xi,  pp.  418-447.) 

Reprinted,  under  the  title  of  "  The  spiritual  sense  of  the  Divina  commedia," 
in  his  "  Phases  of  thought  and  criticism."  Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  dr»  Co. 
1892.  pp.  125-182. 
Blow,  Miss  Susan  E.  A  study  of  Dante.  With  an  introduction  by  William 
T[orrey]  Harris.  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  1886.  12°. 
pp.  xi  -H  102. 

The  chapters  on  the  Inferno  and  Purgatorio  appeared  as  articles  in  the 
"Journal  of  speculative  philosophy,"  1884,  1885;  the  chapter  on  the  Paradiso 
is  new. 

Noticed  in  the  Overland  monthly,  Oct.  1886,  2d  series,  vol.  viii,  p.  448. 
Reviewed  in  the  Nation,  Apr.  22,  1886,  vol.  xlii,  p.  348 ;  —  in  the  Saturday 
review,  May  29,  1886,  vol.  Ixi,  p.  758;  —  in  the  Catholic  world,  June,  1886, 
vol.  xliii,  pp.  431-432  ;  —  in  the  Literary  world,  June  12,  1886,  vol.  xvii,  p.  198  ; 
—  in  the  Critic,  June  26,  1886,  vol.  v,  p.  314;  —  by  E.  L.  Walter  in  Modern 
language  notes.  May,  1887,  vol.  ii,  pp.  no- 1 14. 

Byron,  George  Gordon  Noel  Byron,  6th  baron.  The  prophecy  of  Dante. 
Cantos  i-ii.  With  critical  and  explanatory  notes.  New  York,  Clark  &* 
Maynard.  1886.  16°.  pp.  32.  (English  classic  series,  edited  for  the 
use  of  schools.    No.  i.) 

With  short  sketches  of  the  lives  of  both  Dante  and  Byron. 

[Childs,  T.  H.]     Pia  de'  Tolommei.     {In  the  Catholic  world.     May,  1886.' 
vol.  xliii,  pp.  206-212.) 
The  history  of  the  legend. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  n^ 

Concord  School  (The)  on  Dante.  {In  the  Literary  world.  Aug.  7,  1886. 
vol.  xvii,  p.  263.) 

Extracts  from  lectures  delivered  at  the  Summer  School  of  Philosophy,  Con- 
cord, Mass.,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn,  Thomas  Davidson,  Brother  Azarias,  Mrs.  Julia 
Ward  Howe,  Rev.  Cyrus  A.  Bartol,  and  W.  T.  Harris. 

Cone,  Miss  Helen  Gray.    Madonna  Pia;  [poem].    {In  the  Atlantic  monthly. 
Dec.  1886.    vol.  Iviii,  pp.  745-747.) 
Based  on  Purg.  v. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge^  Mass.  Fifth  annual  report.  Cambridge,  John 
Wilson^  Son.     1886.    8°.    pp.74. 

Contains,  pp.  15-38,  "Dante,"  by  J.  R.  Lowell,  reprinted  from  Appleton's 
"New  American  cyclopaedia,"  1859;  pp.  39-74,  "Dante  and  the  Lancelot 
romance,"  by  Paget  Toynbee,  with  quotations  and  translations  ^om  an 
unpublished  version  of  the  romance  as  contained  in  a  MS.  in  the  British 
Museum. 

Noticed  in  the  Critic,  Dec.  11,  1886,  vol.  vi,  p.  299. 

See  also  Borsari,  F.     Dantofili  americani.     1887. 

Darling,  A.  D.     Dante.    {In  the  St.  Louis  magazine.    June,  1886.) 

Fellowes,  Caroline  "Wilder.  A  volume  of  Dante;  [sonnet].  {In  the  Atlantic 
monthly.     Aug.  1886.     vol.  Iviii,  p.  228.) 

Reprinted  in  C.  H.  Crandall's  "  Representative  sonnets  by  American  poets," 
Boston,  etc.,  Houghton^  Mifflin  6^  Co.,  1890,  p.  166;  —  in  Gleeson  White's 
"Book-song,"  London,  1893,  p.  53;  —  in  the  Literary  world,  June  16,  1894, 
vol.  XXV,  p.  184. 

Grimm,  Herman.  Dante  and  the  recent  Italian  struggles.  {In  Grimm,  H. 
Literature.  [Translated  by  Sarah  Holland  Adams.]  Boston, 
Cupples,  Upham  &^  Co.     1886.     12°.     pp.  253-297.) 

This  sketch  of  Dante  in  political  life  was  first  published  by  Professor  Grimm 

in  his  "  Neue  essays,"  1861. 

Knortz,  Karl.     Dante  in  Amerika ;  Bruchstiick.     {In  Reform,  zeitschrift 
des  aligemeinen  vereins  fiir  vereinfachte  rechtschreibung.      1886  (.?). 
Bd.  X,  p.  9.) 
Title  taken  from  Mr.  Lane's  "  Dante  bibliography  for  1886." 

Kolstoi,  Casimir  Stephen.  Paolo  and  Francesca  da  Rimini ;  [a  painting  by 
J.  Noel  Paton].  {In  the  International  gallery.  Philadelphia,  George 
Barrie.    [1886.]     Part,  vi,  i  f.) 

With  a  steel  engraving  of  Paton's  painting,  R.  Graves,  sc. 


114 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Mary  as  the  model  of  Christian  virtues  in  Dante's  "  Purgatorio."  (/;/  the 
Ave  Maria.  March  13,  20,  27,  1886.  vol.  xxii,  pp.  235-238,  262-266, 
283-288.) 

Translated  from  Der  Katholik. 

Morison,  John  Hopkins.  Dante.  {In  his  The  great  poets  as  religious 
teachers,    ^tvt  \ orV.,  Harper  St*  Bros.     1886.     12°.    pp.  45-81.) 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot.  A  gift  of  Dante.  {In  the  Nation.  Sept.  23,  1886. 
vol.  xliii,  p.  251.) 

A  letter  concerning  the  Dowager  Lady  Vernon's  offer  of  her  late  husband's 
edition  of  the  Inferno  to  certain  selected  public  libraries. 

[Pychowska,  Mrs.  Lucia  Duncan.]  Ozanam's  Dante.  {In  the  Catholic 
world.     Sept.  1886.     vol.  xliii,  pp.  790-795.) 

An  analysis  of  Ozanam's  "  Dante  et  la  philosophic  catholique  au  treizieme 
si^cle." 

Rossetti,  Miss  Maria  Francesca.  The  shadow  of  Dante ;  being  an  essay 
towards  studying  himself,  his  world  and  his  pilgrimage.  Boston,  Roberts 
Bros.    sm.  8°.    pp.  (3)  +  294.    Frontisp. 

First  American  edition  ;  printed  at  the  University  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
The  frontispiece  is  a  medallion  showing  Dante's  profile  as  painted  by  Giotto 
and  as  outlined  in  the  death-mask. 

Reviewed  in  the  Critic^  July  3,  1886,  vol.  vi,  p.  3;  —  in  the  Literary  worlds 
July  10,  1886,  voj.  xvii,  p.  231. 

Vincent,  George  E.  Dante,  the  poet.  {In  Wide  awake.  June,  1886. 
vol.  xxiii,  pp.  142-147.) 

One  of  a  series  of  articles  on  Italian  authors.  Reprinted  in  his  "  Some 
Italian  authors  and  their  works."  Boston,  D.  Lothrop  6^  Co.  1887.  sm.  8°. 
pp.  70-76. 


%*  Reviews  :  —  Butler's  "  Paradise  "  by  E.  L.  Walter  in  Modern  language 
notesy  April,  1886,  vol.  i,  pp.  53-54. 

1887. 

A  Divina  comedia  .  .  .  fielmente  vertida  do  texto  pel  Barao  da  Villa  da 

Barra.    [Rio  de  Janiero  ?]     1887.    8°.  BM. 

Title  made  up  from  the  reference  under  the  translator  in  the  BM  catalogue. 

Dante  and  his  circle,  with  the  Italian  poets  preceding  him.  (i  100-1200- 
1300.)  A  collection  of  lyrics,  edited  and  translated  in  the  original 
metres,  by  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti.      Revised  and  rearranged  ed. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  115 

Ft.  I.   Dante's  Vita  nuova,  etc.  —  Poets  of  Dante's  circle.     Pt.  II.  Poets 
chiefly  before  Dante.     Boston,  Roberts  Bros.     1887,    sm.  8°.     pp.  xviii 

+  (I)  +  301. 

First  American  edition ;  printed  at  the  University  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
In  1896  the  translation  of  the  Vita  nuova  contained  in  the  above  was  printed 
in  this  country  as  a  separate  work. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  world.  May  28,  1887,  vol.  xviii,  p.  166;  —  in  the 
Critic,  July  16,  1887,  vol.  viii,  p.  26;  — in  the  Dial,  Oct.  1887,  vol.  viii,.p.  128; 
—  in  Modern  language  notes,  Jan.  1888,  vol.  iii,  pp.  26-27. 

A  sonnet  of  Dante.    ("  Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare.")    [Translated  by 
Richard  Watson  Gilder.]    (Jn  Gilder,  R.  W.    Lyrics.     New  York, 
Century  Co.    (cop.  1887.)     12°.    p.  122.) 
First  appearance  ? 

Sonnet  from  Dante.  ["  Deh  peregrini,  che  pensosi  andate."]  Translated  by 
Miss  Louise  Imogen  Guiney.  (/;/  the  Catholic  world.  Oct.  1887. 
vol.  xlvi,  p.  31.) 

Four  sonnets  from  '  La  vita  nuova.'  [Translated  by  Miss  Louise  Imogen 
Guiney.]  {In  Guiney,  L.  I.  The  white  sail,  and  other  poems.  Boston, 
Ticknor  &^  Co.    (cop.  1887.)    pp.  145-148.) 

Includes  the  foregoing,  and  also  the  sonnets  beginning  "  lo  mi  sentii  svegliar 
dentro  alio  core,"  "Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare,"  and  "  Era  venuta  nella 
mente  mia."  The  translations  of  "  Tanto  gentile,"  and  "  Deh  peregrini,"  are 
reprinted  in  C.  H.  Crandall's  "  Representative  sonnets  by  American  poets," 
Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &>  Co-,  1890,  pp.  28-29. 

Bierwirth,  Heinrich  Conrad.  Dante's  obligations  to  the  schoolmen,  especially 
to  Thomas  Acquinas.     1887.    4°.    ff.  (3)+i29.    MS. 

Deposited  in  the  HCL.  The  prize  offered  by  the  Dante  Society  for  the 
best  essay  on  Dante  by  a  student  in  any  department  of  Harvard  University,  or 
by  a  graduate  of  not  more  than  three  years'  standing,  was  awarded  the  author 
for  this  essay. 

Borsari,  F.     Dantofili  americani.     (/«  La  scuola  italiana.     May  22,  1887.) 

An  account  of  Dante  in  America  occasioned  by  the  "  Fifth  annual  report  of 
the  Dante  Society." 

Cavazza,  E.  Dante  and  the  young  Florentine;  [poem].  {In  St.  Nicholas. 
Sept.  1887.    vol.  xiv,  p.  813.) 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Sixth  annual  report.  Cambridge,  John 
Wilson  &^  Son.     1887.    8^    pp.33. 

Contains,  pp.  19-30,  "Dante  bibliography  for  the  year  1886,"  compiled  by 
WilHam  C.  Lane;  pp.  31-33,  "Note  on  the  first  edition  of  the  Comment  of 


Ii6  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Benvenuto  da  Imola,"  reprinted  from  the  circular  of  the  publisher,  G.  Barbara, 
Firenze,  where  mention  is  made  of  the  plan  formerly  entertained  by  the  Dante 
Society  for  the  publication  of  the  Comment. 

Noticed  in  the  Modern  language  notes,  Nov.  1887,  vol.  ii,  p.  208;  —  in  the 
Rivista  delle  biblioteche,  genn.-febbr.  1888,  p.  28 ;  —  in  the  Gazzetta  Ittteraria, 
febbr.  ii,  1888. 

Davidson,  Thomas.  Dante  text-criticism.  {In  Modern  language  notes. 
Apr.  1887.    vol.  ii,  pp.  78-79.) 

On  Vita  nuova,  cap.  i,  "i  quale  non  sapeano  che  si  chiamare."  —  Convivio, 
I,  vii,  40  et  seq.,  •'  e  1'  uomo  obbediente  alia  giustizia  comanda  al  peccatore." 

Fay,  Edward  Allen.  Words  used  only  by  Dante.  (/«  Modern  language 
notes.    May,  1887.    vol.  ii,  pp.  129-130.) 

Harris,  William  Torrey.  The  spiritual  sense  of  Dante's  *'  Divina  corn- 
media."  (/«  M^  Journal  of  speculative  philosophy.  Oct.  1887.  [Printed 
in  1889.]    vol.  xxi,  pp.  349-451.) 

Written  in  1886  for  the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy.  Issued  in  book 
form  in  1889,  1896. 

Hazard,  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.  A  view  of  Dante.  {In  the  Journal  of  the 
American  akademe,  (Orange,  N.J.).  Jan.  1887.  vol.  iii,  pp.  75-98. 
Piatt.) 

Accompanied  by  a  plan  of  the  Inferno.  Read  before  the  American  Aka- 
deme at  Jacksonville,  111.,  in  Dec.  1886.  Noticed  in  the  Critic,  May  28,  1887, 
vol.  vii,  p.  268.     Reprinted  in  her  "Two  views  of  Dante,"  1891. 

Leahy,  William  Augustine.  Dante's  Francesca ;  [poem].  {In  the 
Harvard  monthly.     April,  1887.     vol.  iv,  p.  47.) 

Lillie,  Lucy  C.  A  great  lady  ;  [the  Countess  Gozzadini,  of  Bologna].  {In 
the  Catholic  world.    July,  1887.    vol.  xlv,  pp.  454-465.) 

The  Countess  Maria  Teresa  di  Serego-Allighieri  Gozzadini  was  the  last 
lineal  descendant  of  Dante  in  the  female  line. 

M.,  J.  W.  The  last  of  the  Gozzadini.  {In  the  Nation.  Sept.  29,  1887. 
vol.  xlv,  pp.  250-251.) 

Meyer,  Carl  Ferdinand.  The  monk's  wedding ;  a  novel.  [Translated  from 
the  German  by  Sarah  Holland  Adams.]  Boston,  Cupples  6r»  Hurd. 
(cop.  1887.)     12°.    pp.169.    (Green  paper  series.) 

The  cover  has  the  added  sub-title  "  Dante's  Verona  romance."  Dante  is 
represented  as  telling  this  story  at  the  court  of  Can  Grande  of  Verona. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


117 


[Parsons,  Reuben.]  The  charge  of  heresy  against  Dante.  (/«  the  American 
Catholic  quarterly  review.     Oct.  1887.    vol.  xii,  pp.  714-725.) 

Scartazzini,  Johann  Andreas.  A  handbook  to  Dante.  Translated  from  the 
ItaUan  by  Thomas  Davidson,  with  notes  and  additions.  Boston, 
Ginn  &^  Co.     1887.    sm.  8°.    pp.  viii -|-  315.    Port. 

The  original  work,  entitled  "  Dante :  i.  Vita,  ii.  Opere,"  forms  volumes  xlii, 
xliii  of  the  "  Manuali  Hoepli."  The  portrait  is  from  a  drawing  ascribed  to 
Masaccio. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  world,  April  30,  1887,  vol.  xviii,  pp.  131-132  ;  — 
[by  C.  E.  Norton]  in  the  Nation,  May  26,  1887,  vol.  xliv,  pp.  454-455  ;  —  in  the 
Critic,  June  14,  1887,  vol.  vii,  p.  280  ;  —  in  Modern  language  notes,  Nov.  1887, 
vol.  ii,  p.  206;  —  in  the  American  journal  of  philology,  Oct.  18877  vol.  viii, 
p.  362. 

Shattuck,  Mrs.  Harriette  (Lucy)  Robinson.  The  story  of  Dante's  Divine 
comedy.  {In  the  Library  magazine.  Jan.  22,  29,  1887.  3d  series, 
vol.  ii,  pp.  303-308,  313-318.) 

"  The  substance  of  these  pages  was  first  printed  in  the  form  of  letters  to  the 
Boston  Transcript  and  the  Springfield  Republican,  written  from  the  Concord 
school  of  philosophy  in  the  summer  of  1886." 

Sherman,  Mrs.  Caroline  K.  The  Divine  comedy  and  Faust.  (/«  Dudley, 
Mrs.  Marion  V.,  editor.  Poetry  and  philosophy  of  Goethe  ;  comprising 
the  lectures  and  extempore  discussions  before  the  Milwaukee  literary 
school  in  August,  1886.  Chicago,  S.  C.  Griggs  <Sr»  Co.  1887.  8°.  pp. 
99-137.) 

Vincent,  Marvin  Richardson.  Dean  Plumptre's  Dante.  (/«  the  New 
Princeton  review.     Nov.  1887.    vol.  iv,  pp.  349-361.) 

Ward,  Mrs.  May  Alden.  Dante  ;  a  sketch  of  his  life  and  works.  Boston, 
Roberts  Bros.     1887.     12°.    pp.303. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  world,  May  28,  1887,  vol,  xviii,  p.  166;  —  in  the 
Literary  nezvs,  June,  1887,  vol.  viii,  p.  167;  —  in  the  Nation,  June  23,  1887, 
vol.  xliv,  p.  537  ;  —  in  the  Critic,  July  16,  1887,  vol.  viii,  p.  26;  —  in  Modern 
language  notes,  Jan.  1888,  vol.  iv,  p.  26. 


*jit*  Reviews  :  —  Plumptre's  translation  of  the  Commedia  and  Canzoniere 
[by  C.  E.  Norton]  in  the  Nation,  Feb.  3,  1887,  vol.  xliv,  p.  103,  by  E.  L. 
Walter  in  Modern  language  notes.  May,  1887,  vol.  ii,  pp.  110-114  ;  —  Moore's 
"Time  references  in  the  Divina  commedia"  [by  C.  E.  Norton]  in  the  Nation, 
April  14,  1887,  vol.  xliv,  pp.  322-324. 


ii8  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


1888. 

Dante^s    Inferno.      Translated   from  the  original  of    Dante  Alighieri    by 
Henry  Francis  Gary,  and  illustrated  by  Gustave  Dor6.    Edited  by 
Henry  C.  Walsh.     Philadelphia,  Henry  Altemus.     [1888.]     f°.     pp.  vi 
+  163.     Port.  ^XiA  plates. 
pp.  v-vi,  "  Life  of  Dante,"  by  the  editor. 

The  Divine  comedy.  Translated  into  English  verse,  with  notes,  by  John 
Augustine  Wilstach.  Boston,  etc.^  Houghton,  Mifflin  dr'  Co.  1888. 
2  V.    8°.    Frontispp. 

Contents: — I.  Inferno.  Purgatorio,  i-xvi.  —  II.  Purgatorio,  xvii-xxxiii. 
Paradiso. 

The  frontispiece  of  the  first  volume  is  Ary  Scheffer's  "  Dante  and  Beatrice"; 
that  of  the  second  is  the  portrait  from  the  Bargello  fresco  in  Florence. 

Reviewed  by  R.  E.  T[hompson]  in  the  American  (Phila.),  Nov.  24,  1888, 
vol.  xvii,  pp.  89-91  ;  —  in  the  Overland  monthly,  Jan.  1889,  vol.  xiii,  2d  series, 
PP-  93-94;  —  [by  ^-  •^-  Carpenter]  in  the  Nation,  Feb.  21,  1889,  vol.  xlviii, 
pp.  163-164  ;  —  in  the  Athenceum,  Feb.  23,  1889,  pp.  241-242  ;  —  in  the  Catholic 
world,  April,  1889,  vol.  xlix,  pp.  140-141  ;  —  in  the  Scottish  review,  July,  1889, 
vol.  xiv,  pp.  2II-2I2  ;  —  by  E.  Moore  in  the  Academy,  Aug.  17,  1889,  vol.  xxxvi, 
p.  99. 

The   universal  empire.      Passages   from   the   first   book   of   Dante's    De 
monarchia  [with  preliminary  essay].     Boston.     [1888.]     16°.     pp.  22. 
(Old  South  leaflets.    6th  series,  no.  3.) 
The  extracts  are  from  the  translation  by  F.  J.  Church,  London,  1879. 

[Carpenter,  George  Rice.]  Essay  on  the  interpretation  and  reconciliation  of 
the  different  accounts  of  his  experiences  after  the  death  of  Beatrice 
given  by  Dante  in  the  Vita  nuova  and  Convito.  Offered  for  the  Dante 
prize  of  1887-88  by  "  R."    4°.    pp.  (4)  +114.    MS. 

Deposited  in  the  HCL.  The  prize  offered  by  the  Dante  Society  for  the 
best  essay  on  Dante  by  a  student  in  any  department  of   Harvard  or  by  a 

-  graduate  of  not  more  than  three  years'  standing,  was  awarded  the  author  for 
this, essay.    Printed  in  the  "  Eighth  annual  report  of  the  Dante  Society,"  1889. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Seventh  annual  report.  Cambridge, 
John  Wilson  Qr' Son.     1888.    8°.    pp.35. 

Contains,  pp.  21-35,  "Dante  bibliography  for  the  year  1887,"  compiled  by 
William  C.  Lane. 

Reviewed  by  R.  Bonghi  in  La  cultura,  1-15  giugno,  1889,  an.  viii,  pp.  346- 
347.     Noticed  in  V  Alighieri,  ott.  1889,- an.  i,  pp.  214-215. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  119 

Fay,  Edward  Allen.  Concordance  of  the  Divina  commedia.  Cambridge, 
etc.,  The  Dante  society.     1888.    8°.    pp.  vi  +  819. 

Reviewed  [by  G.  R.  Carpenter]  in  the  Nation,  Oct.  25,  1888,  vol.  xlvii, 
pp.  338-340  ;  —  by  A.  Pagliani  in  La  nazione,  die.  6,  1888 ;  —  by  P.  Toynbee  in 
the  Academy,  Feb.  23,  1889,  vol.  xxxv,  pp.  1 24-1 25 ;  —  in  the  Athenceum,  Feb.  23, 
1889,  pp.  241-242  ;  —  in  the  Literary  world,  Mar.  2,  1889,  vol.  xx,  pp.  69-71; 
by  E.  L.  Walter  in  Modern  language  notes,  Jan.  1889,  vol.  iv,  pp.  177-178. 
Noticed  in  the  Giornale  storico  delta  letteratura  italiana,  1888,  vol.  xii,  p.  482  ; 
—  in  UAlighieri,  1889,  an.  i,  p.  60;  —  in  the  Zeitschrift  fiir  romanische  philo- 
logie,  Bd.  xiii,  p.  345.  The  circular  announcing  the  publication  noticed  in  the 
Literary  world,  Oct.  1887,  vol.  xviii,  p.  319. 

Hunt,  (James  Henry)  Leigh.  Dante  Alighieri.  With  critical  notices  of  the 
life  and  genius  of  the  author.  New  York,  etc.,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 
[1888.]  32°.  pp.  274.  (Stories  from  the  Italian  poets;  first  series. 
Knickerbocker  nuggets.) 

Karsten,  Gustaf .     Dantesca ;  osservazioni  su  alcuni  passaggi  della  Divina 
commedia.    (^In  Modern  language  notes.     May,  1888.    vol.  iii,  pp.  119- 
I23-) 
On  Inf.  iii.  42  ;  v.  104,  108,  114,  138. 

Kelly,  Walter.  Dante  and  Beatrice  ;  [poem].  (Jn  the  Atlantic  monthly. 
Nov.  1888.    vol.  Ixiii,  pp.  668-669.) 

Lowell,  James  Russell.    Paolo  to  Francesca  ;  [sonnet].    {In  his  Heartsease 
and  rue.    Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin^  Co.    1888.    sm.  8°.    p.  109.) 
Reprinted  in  later  editions. 

Pullen,  C.  L.,  and  others.  ["  Le  mani  alzo  con  ambedue  le  fiche,"  etc.^ 
Inf.  XXV.  2-3.]  {In  the  American  notes  and  queries.  Oct.  13,  1888. 
vol.  i,  p.  287.) 

These  lines  are  brought  forward  in  a  search  for  the  origin  of  the  phrases 
"  I  don't  care  a  fig,"  and  "  A  fig  for  you."  See  also  the  numbers  for  Aug.  1 1, 
and  Sep.  8,  1888. 

Sarepta,  pseud.  Sonnet  trio  ;  founded  on  a  well-known  passage  of  Dante. 
{In  the  Week,  (Toronto).     Mar.  i,  1888.    vol.  v,  p.  217.)  CUL. 

The  theme  is  the  story  of  Francesca  da  Rimini. 

Scartazzini,  Johann  Andreas.  On  the  congruence  of  sins  and  punishments 
in  Dante's  Inferno.  Translated  from  the  German  by  Thekla  Bernays. 
{In  Journal  of  speculative  philosophy.  Jan.-April,  1888.  [Printed  in 
1893.]    vol.  xxii,  pp.  21-83.) 


^ 


120  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  original  article  appeared  in  the  "  Jahrbuch  der  deutschen  Dante- 
Gesellschaft,"  1877,  Bd.  iv,  pp.  273-354. 

S[chuyler],  E[ugene].  Carducci  and  Dante.  (/«  the  Nation.  Feb.  16, 
1888.    vol.  xlvi,  pp.  133-134.) 

An  account,  with  translated  extracts,  of  Giosu^  Carducci's  initiatory  lecture 
of  Jan.  8,  i888,  on  '•  L'opera  di  Dante,"  in  the  course  instituted  by  the  Italian 
Government.  Contains  also  an  original  rendering  of  Carducci's  sonnet  to 
Dante,  "  Dante,  onde  avvien  che  i  voti  e  la  favella." 

In  the  footsteps  of  Dante.     {In  the  Nation.    Oct.  4,  1888.    vol.  xlvii, 

pp.  266-268.) 

Notes  of  a  traveller's  journey  to  various  places  known  to  Dante. 

Stevens,  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  D.  Dante ;  [poem].  {In  the  Poets  of  Maine, 
edited  by  George  Bancroft  Griflfith.  Portland,  Elivell,  Pickard  6^  Co. 
1888.    8  .    p.  630.) 

Strong,  Augustus  Hopkins.  Dante  and  the  Divine  comedy.  {In  his 
Philosophy  and  religion.  New  York,  A.  C.  Armstrong  dr"  Son.  1888. 
8°.    pp.  501-524.) 

A  lecture  delivered  at  Vassar  College,  Feb.  21,  22,  1888,  and  first  printed  in 
the  Chicago  Standard. 

Tunison,  J.  S.  Master  Virgil,  the  author  of  the  y^neid,  as  he  seemed  in 
the  middle  ages  ;  a  series  of  studies.  Cincinnati,  Robert  Clarke  dr'  Co. 
1888.    8°.    pp.  vii+230. 

Takes  an  opposite  stand  from  that  of  Compare tti.     Reviewed  [by  T.  F. 

.  Crane]  in  the  Nation,  Jan.  10,  1889,  vol.  xlviii,  pp.  36-37  ;  —  by  W.  H.  Johnson 

in  the  £>ia/,  Dec.  16,  1895,  pp.  381-383  ;  —  in  the  Literary  world.  Mar.  30,  1889, 

vol.  XX,  p.  114  ;  —  by  W.  Y.  Sellar  in  the  Classical  review,  1889,  vol.  iii,  pp. 

265-269. 


%*  Reviews:  — R.  W.  Church's  "Dante"  in  the  Critic,  June  2,  1888, 
vol.  ix,  pp.  266-267. 

1889. 

Purgatory  and  Paradise.  Translated  from  the  original  of  Dante  AHghieri 
by  Henry  Francis  Cary,  and  illustrated  by  Gustave  Dor6.  Edited 
by  Henry  C.  Walsh.  Philadelphia, //^«r>/ ^//^/«//j.  [1889.]  fo.  pp. 
V  4- (I) +  328.    Plates. 

The  poet's  vision  of  hell,  purgatory  and  paradise.  [Selections  from  Gary's 
translation.]      {In  Schaff,  P.  and  A.  Gilman,  editors.     A  library  of 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  y2\ 

poetry  for  Sunday  reading  ;   a  collection  of  the  best  poems  of  all  ages 
and  tongues,  with  biographical  and  literary  notes.     New  York,  Dodd, 
Mead  &^  Co.    (cop.  1889.)    8°.    pp.  909-930.    Port.) 
The  portrait  is  a  woodcut  after  Raphael  Morghen. 

The  vision  of  Beatrice  ;  a  translation  in  the  original  terza  rima  from  the 
31st  canto  of  Dante's  Purgatorio,  [vv.  127-145].  By  Samuel  Byrne. 
{In  the  Catholic  world.     Feb.  1889.    vol.  xlviii,  p.  670.) 

El  infierno  de  la  Divina  commedia ;  traduccidn  en  verso  castellano  ajustada 
al  original  por  Bartolome  Mitre,  con  un  prefacio  y  notas  del  tra- 
ductor.    Buenos  Ayres,  Imprenta  de  "Z^  Nacion.'"    1889. 

100  copies  printed.  Title  taken  from  Barbi's  *'  Bibliografia  dantesca  dell' 
anno  1889."  Noticed  in  VAlighieri^  1889,  vol.  i,  p.  213.  Reviewed  by  F. 
Cristofori  in  V Arcadia,  1889,  vol.  i,  fasc.  7. 

The  Banquet  (II  convito)  of  Dante.  Translated  by  Katharine  Hillard. 
London,  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  6^  Co.     1 889.    8°.    pp.  Ixi  +  406. 

pp.  130-133,  Translations  of  the  tenth  ballata  and  the  first  canzone  of  the 
Vita  nuova ;  pp.  390-406,  Epistle  to  Can  Grande,  translated  from  the  edition 
of  Fraticelli. 

"  Of  American  parentage,  Miss  Hillard  was  born  in  England,  where  she 
passed  her  childhood,  and,  coming  to  America,  was  educated  at  an  Eastern 
college."  —  Literary  wor/d- (Boston),  July  5,  1890,  p.  227. 

Reviewed  by  E.  Moore  in  the  Academy,  April  20,  1889,  vol.  xxxv,  pp.  264- 
265  ;  —  in  the  Literary  world.  May  1 1 ,  1889,  vol.  xx,  p.  155;  —  in  the  Athenceum, 
June  15,  1889,  pp.  753-755; —  [by  G.  R.  Carpenter]  in  the  Nation,  July  4, 
1889,  vol.  xlix,  pp.  16-17.     Noticed  in  the  Critic,  Nov.  16,  1889,  vol.  xii,  p.  241. 

Aub^,   Jean  Paul.       Statue  of  Dante.      {In  the  American  architect  and 
building  news.    Aug.  17,  1889.    vol.  xxvi,  no.  712.) 
With  a  sketch  of  the  artist's  life  and  work. 

Ampere,  Jean  Jacques.  In  the  footsteps  of  Dante.  Translated  by  [Mrs.] 
Emma  B[arstow]  Bates.    1889.    4°.    ff.  (8)  +  237  +  (3).    MS. 

Deposited  in  HCI^.  Translated  from  the  French  "Voyage  dantesque." 
Inserted  are  a  portrait  of  Dante  and  other  photographs. 

Dante   Society,   Cambridge,  Mass.     Eighth  annual  report.      Cambridge, 

John  Wilson  &^  Son.     1889.    8°.    pp.98. 

Contains,  pp.  21-79,  "The  episode  of  the  donna  pietosa ;  being  an  attempt 
to  reconcile  the  statements  in  the  Vita  nuova  and  the  Convito  concerning 
Dante's  life  in  the  years  after  the  death  of  Beatrice  and  before  the  beginning 


123  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

of  the  Divina  commedia;  Dante  prize  essay,  1888,"  by  George  Rice  Carpenter; 
pp.  81-98,  "Dante  bibliography  for  the  year  1888,"  compiled  by  William  C. 
Lane. 

Noticed  in  the  Academy ^  Sept.  14,  1889 ;  —  in  the  Nuova  antologia,  16  sett., 
i  ott.,  1889,  vol.  cvii,  pp.  406,  576-577;  —  in  the  Archiv  fiir  das  Studium  der 
neueren  Sfrachen,  1890,  Bd.  Ixxxiv,  p.  223.  Mr.  Carpenter's  essay  is  reviewed 
by  [F.]  P[asqualigo]  in  VAlighieri,  1889,  an.  i,  pp.  254-264. 

Durant,  Miss  Heloise,  [^afterwards  Mrs.  Rose].  Dante  ;  a  dramatic  poem. 
London,  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  Qr"  Co.    1 889.    sm.  8°.    pp.  xvi  +  1 36. 

Second  edition,  (a  re-impression  of  the  above),  London,  Lamley  &'  Co.    1892. 
Reviewed  in  the  Atheneeum,   June  15,   1889,  pp.  753-755,  quoted  in  the 
Critic,  July  13,  1889,  vol.  xii,  p.  12. 

Gozzaldi,  Marie.  The  study  of  Dante  in  Italy.  {In  the  Cambridge  (Mass.) 
tribune.    Aug.  31,  1889.) 

Harris,  William  Torrey.  The  spiritual  sense  of  the  Divina  commedia. 
New  York,  D.  Apple  ton  &^  Co.    1889.    sq.  12°.    pp.  216. 

First  printed  in  \}i\q  Journal  of  speculative  philosophy ,  Oct.  1887.  New  edition 
in  1896. 

Reviewed  by  E[mily]  A.  T[hackray]  in  the  Writer,  Feb.  1891,  vol.  v, 
pp.  36-37  ;  —  in  the  Critic,  Feb.  14,  1891,  vol.  xv,  p.  82  ;  —  in  the  Literary 
news,  Mar.  1891,  vol.  xii,  p.  80  (from  the  Boston  Beacon) ;  —  in  the  Literary 
world.  Mar.  28,  1891,  vol.  xxii,  p.  106 ;  —  by  Frank  Sewall  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
magazine,  Sept.  1891,  vol.  xv,  pp.  540-552  (reprinted  in  his  "  Dante  and  Sweden- 
borg,"  1893);  —  by  C.  Pasqualigo  in  V Alighieri,  1891,  an.  iii,  pp.  53-55. 

McLean,  L.  M.  Dante's  sense  of  color.  {In  Modern  language  notes. 
April,  1889.    vol.  iv,  pp.  101-104.) 

Ozanam,  Antoine  Fr^^ric.  Dante  and  Catholic  philosophy  in  the  thir- 
teenth century.  Translated  from  the  French  by  [Mrs.]  Lucia  D[uncan] 
Pychowska.     [1889.]     4°.     pp.  346.     MS. 

Deposited  in  HCL.  A  part  of  the  fourth  chapter  was  printed  in  1890  ;  the 
entire  work  is  to  be  published  in  1897. 

"  The  text  of  Ozanam  is  here  presented  without  abridgement.  Of  the  very 
numerous  notes,  those  most  useful  to  readers  of  English  have  been  translated 
into  that  tongue.  The  remainder,  chiefly  repetitions  in  Latin  or  Greek,  of 
matter  set  forth  in  the  text,  have  been  either  retained  in  their  original  form,  or 
have  been  omitted,  the  references  being  preserved.  The  supplementary  '  Docu- 
ments '  are  given  entire,  with  the  exception  of  a  long  mediaeval  poem  .  .  .  and 
some  remarks  on  mediaeval  visions  anterior  to  Dante's  day." —  Translator' s  note. 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  123 

Sewall,  Frank.  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  (Jn  the  New  Jerusalem  magazine. 
March,  1889.    vol.  xiii,  p.  170.) 

Reprinted  in  his  "Dante  and  Swedenborg,"  1893,  P-  *• 

Walford,  Mrs.  Lucy  Bethia.  London  letter.  (/«  the  Critic.  May  4,  1 889. 
vol.  xi,  pp.  222-223.) 

Contains  an  account  of  lectures  on  Dante  by  Dr.  George  Macdonald  and 
the  Rt.  Rev.  W.  Boyd  Carpenter,  Bishop  of  Ripon. 

Walter,  Edward  Lothaire.  Dante's  ■  Paradiso  ;  cantos  xxiv-xxvi.  {In 
Publications  of  the  Modern  language  association  of  America.  Jan.- 
March,  1889.    vol.  iv,  pp.  24-40.) 


*,it*  Reviews :  —  Moore's  "Contributions  to  the  textual  criticism  of   the 
Divina  commedia"  in  the  Nation,  Oct.  10,  1889,  vol.  xlix,  pp.  294-295. 


1890. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Henry  Wads- 
worth  Longfellow.  London,  George  Routledge  6r»  Sons.  1890. 
3  vols.     24°. 

From  new  plates.    Contains  the  additional  notes  of  the  1886  Boston  edition. 

The  fourth  canto  of  the  Inferno.  [With  comment  and  translation]  by  John 
Jay  Chapman.  {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.  Nov.  1890.  vol.  Ixvi, 
pp.  647-651.) 

The  rendering  is  in  terza  rima.     See  a  note  "  On  looking  into  Chapman's 
Dante"  in  the  December  number,  p.  853. 

Berdoe,  Edward.  Browning's  science  as  shown  in  "  Numpholeptos."  {In 
Poet-lore.     Dec.  1890.     vol.  ii,  pp.  617-624.) 

Sees  a  partial  reproduction  of  Dante's  Beatrice  in  Browning's  Nymph.     See 
a/j-^- Duffield,  C.  W.     The  "  unreason  of  a  she-intelligence."     1891. 

Calvi,  Cesare.  The  Beatrice  exposition.  Translated  by  C.  H.  Gates. 
{In  the  Boston  evening  transcript.     June  7,  14,  1890.) 

*4it*   For  an  adverse  criticism  of  the  Beatrice  festival,  see  an  anonymous 
letter,  from  an  American  student,  in  the  Critic,  Oct.  6,  1890,  vol.  xiv,  p.  162. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.     Ninth  annual  report.     Cambridge,  John 
Wilson  &^  Son.     1890.     8°.     pp.45, 
pp.  21-45,  "  Dante  bibliography  for  the  year  1889,"  compiled  by  W.  C.  Lane. 


124  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY, 

Gitterman,  John  Milton.  Ezzelin  von  Romano,  i.  Teil:  die  Griindung 
der  Signorie  (i  194-1244).  Stuttgart,  W.  Kohlhammer.  1890.  8°. 
pp.  xvi  +  1 64. 

Reviewed  in  VAlighieri,  1891,  an.  ii,  pp.  392-394;— by  "P.  II."  in  Litera- 
risches  Centralblatt,  30  April,  1892,  column  638.  The  author's  conclusion  as 
to  Sordello  "di  Marano  "  having  been  confounded  with  the  celebrated  Sordello 
"di  Goito"  is  opposed  by  C.  Merkel  in  Giornale  storico  delta  letteratura  italianay 
1 89 1,  vol.  xvii,  pp.  381-390. 

Lane,  William  Coolidge,  compiler.  The  Dante  collections  in  the  Harvard 
college  and  Boston  public  libraries.  Cambridge,  Issued  by  the  Library 
of  Harvard  University.  1890.  8°.  pp.  116.  (Bibliographical  con- 
tributions, edited  by  Justin  Winsor.     No.  34.) 

Noticed  by  F.  X.  Kraus  in  the  Literaturblatt  fiir  germanische  und  romanische 
Philologie.  Reviewed  by  "  G.  S."  in  Vita  nuova,  1890,  p.  8  (248) ;  —  in  the 
Literary  worlds  Aug.  29,  1 891,  vol.  xxii,  p.  295. 

Murat,  Luiz.  O  distico  de  Dante.  (/«  his  Ondas.  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
/.  Silva  <2r-  Adolpho.     1890.     16°.     pp.  223-226.)  CUL. 

Ozanam,  Antoine  FrMMc.  Student  life  of  Dante.  Translated  by  [Mrs.] 
Lucia  D[uncan]  Pychowska.  (/«  the  Catholic  world.  Sept.,  Oct. 
1890.     vol.  li,  pp.  767-776;  vol.  Hi,  pp.  61-67.) 

A  portion  of  chapter  iv  of  Ozanam's  "  Dante  et  la  philosophic  catholique 
au  treizieme  siecle." 

Fallen,  Condfe  B.  The  times  that  led  up  to  Dante.  {In  the  American 
Catholic  quarterly  review.     Oct.  1890.     vol.  xv,  pp.  681-697.) 

Saint  Louis  —  Public  library.  A  reference  list  for  the  study  of  Dante. 
[St.  Louis.     1890.]     1.  8°.     pp.  5.     (Reference  lists  No.  11.) 

Schaff,  Philip.  Dante  Alighieri.  —  The  Divina  commedia.  {In  his  Lit- 
erature and  poetry.  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  1890.  8°. 
pp.  279-429.) 

PP-  328-337.  Bibliography;  pp.  338-344,  Poetic  tributes  to  Dante. 

The  writer,  speaking  of  himself,  says  in  a  note,  "  His  articles  on  Dante  in 
this  volume  are  entirely  new,  but  the  estimate  of  Dante  is  the  same  as  that  in 
his  youthful  address  [of  1846]." 

The  Dante  material  of  this  volume  has  also  been  bound  up  separately,  with 
the  same  pagination,  but  with  a  separate  title-page  and  table  of  contents.  The 
greater  part  of  the  essay  on  the  Divina  commedia  has  been  translated  into 
Italian  by  Marco  Lessona  and  published  under  the  title  "  Dante  Alighieri  e  la 
Divina  commedia ;  studio  di  Filippo  Schaff."  Torino,  Unione  tipografico  editrice 
torinese.     8°.     1892.     pp.  56. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  125 

Dante's  theology.      (Jn  Papers  of  the  American  society  of  church 

history.      1890.     vol.  ii,  pp.  53-73.) 

Thaxter,  Mrs.  Celia.    And  his  will  is  our  peace ;  [poem].    {In  the  Century 
magazine.     April,  1890.     vol.  xxxix,  p.  905.) 

With  Dante's  line,  "E  la  sua  volontade  e  nostra  pace,"  for  a  motto. 
Concerning  Mrs.  Thaxter's  interpretation  of  the  line,  see  a  query  and  note  in 
the  Critic,  June  7,  1890,  vol.  xiii,  p.  292. 

Thomas,  Miss  Edith  Matilda.    Beatrice;  [poem].    {In  the  Critic.    Sept.  13, 
1890.     vol.  xiv,  p.  132.) 

Written,  at  the  request  of  Vincenzo  Botta  and  Charlotte  Lynch  Botta,  for 
the  celebration  in  Italy  of  the  six  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  death  of 
Beatrice  Portinari. 

Wall,  Annie  Russell.     Dante's  imperialism,      (Jn  Poet-lore.     Oct.  1890. 
vol.  ii,  pp.  501-515.) 

Wilson,   Epiphanius.     Dante;  [sonnet].     {In  the  Critic4     June  7,  1890. 
vol.  xiii,  p.  287.) 


*^i(*  Reviews:  —  Symonds'  "Introduction  to  the  study  of  Dante,"  in  the  Lit- 
erary world,  July  19,  1890,  vol.  xxi,  pp.  234-235,  in  the  Nation,  Oct.  2,  1890, 
vol.  Ii,  pp.  271-272,  in  the  Critic,  Oct.  18,  1890,  vol.  xiv,  p.  188;  —  Moore's 
"Early  biographers  of  Dante,"  in  the  Nation,  Oct.  16, 1890,  vol.  Ii,  pp.  307-309. 


1891. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot 
Norton,  i.  Hell.  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  Or'  Co.  1891. 
sm.  8°.     pp.  xxvi  +  (i)  +  193. 

Reviewed  in  the  Literary  world,  Oct.  24,  1891,  vol.  xxii,  p.  yji;  —  [by  W.  R. 
Thayer]  in  the  Nation,  Nov.  5  and  12,  1891,  vol.  liii,  pp.  356-357,  377-^78  ;  — 
by  W.  M.  Payne  in  the  Dial,  Nov.  1891,  vol.  xii,  pp.  218-219 ;  —  i"  the  Atlantic 
monthly,  Dec.  1891,  vol.  Ixviii,  pp.  838-841 ;  —  in  the  Saturday  review,  Dec.  9, 
1891,  vol.  Ixii,  pp.  707-708  ;  —  in  the  Critic,  Jan.  23,  1892,  vol.  xvii,  pp.  47-48  ; 
—  by  P.  Toynbee  in  the  Academy,  Feb.  13,  1892,  pp.  1 51-152;  —  (with  the 
"  Purgatory")  in  The  post-graduate  and  Wooster  {Ohio)  quarterly,  1891,  vol.  vi, 
pp.  138-139;  —  by  W.  V.  M[oody]  in  the  Harvard  monthly,  Jan.  1892,  vol. 
xiii,  p.  171;  — in  the  Spectator,  May  7,   1892,  p.  652. 

A  translation  of  Dante's  eleven  letters,  with  explanatory  notes  and  historical 
comments  by  Charles  Sterrett  Latham.  Edited  by  G.  R.  Carpenter, 


126  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

with  a  preface  by  C.  E.  Norton.  Student's  ed.  Boston,  etc.^  Houghton, 
Mifflin  ^  Co.     1891.     8°.     pp.  xiii  +  (i)  +  284. 

Same.  A  translation  of  Dante's  eleven  letters,  with  explanatory  notes  and 
a  biographical,  historical,  and  critical  comment  to  the  first,  second,  third, 
-ninth,  and  eleventh  letters  by  Charles  Sterrett  Latham.  Memorial 
ed.  Cambridge,  Riverside  Press.  1891.  8°.  pp.  xiii  +  (i)  +  284. 
Port,  of  translator. 

The  prize  offered  by  the  Dante  Society  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Latham  in  1890. 
Mr.  Latham  died  on  July  21,  1890.  He  did  not  Uve  to  learn  the  award  of  the 
prize- 
Reviewed  [by  W.  R.  Thayer]  in  the  Nation,  Oct.  29,  1891,  vol.  liii,  pp.  339- 
340 ;  —  by  W.  M.  Payne  in  the  Dial,  Nov.  1891,  vol.  xii,  p.  219 ;  —  in  the  Literary 
world,  Nov.  7,  1 891,  vol.  xxii,  p.  397;  —  by  H.  M.  F[ield]  in  the  New  York 
evangelist,  Nov.  13,  1891,  vol.  Ixi,  n.  46,  p.  i  ;  —  in  the  Atlantic  monthly,  Dec. 

1891,  vol.  Ixviii,  pp.  838-841 ;  —  in  the  Critic,  Jan.  2, 1892,  vol.  xvii,  p.  3,  reprinted 
in  the  Literary  news,  Jan.  1892,  vol.  xiii,  new  series,  p.  16;  —  by  P.  S.  A[bbott] 
in  the  Harvard  monthly,  Feb.  1892,  vol.  xiii,  pp.  217-218  ;  —  in  the  Athenceum, 
Feb.  27, 1892,  pp.  273-274 ;  —  by  P.  Toynbee  in  the  Academy,  April  2,  1892 ;  — 
by  F.  X.  Kraus  in  the  Literaturblatt  fiir  germanische  und  romanische  Philologie, 

1892,  Bd.  xiii,  p.  126;  —  by  C.  P[asqualigo]  in  VAlighieri,  1892,  an.  iii, 
pp.  358-359;  —  in  the  Florence  gazette.  May  5,  1894  (CUL).  Noticed  in 
Giornale  storico  delta  letteratura  italiana,  1892,  vol.  xix,  p.  126. 

American  Dante  Society.  Year-book.  1890-91.  New  York.  [1891.]  8°. 
pp.  81 -f  (I). 

Besides  a  history  of  the  founding  of  the  Society,  its  constitution,  lists  of 
officers  and  members,  and  reports,  the  volume  contains,  pp.  25-34,  "Address," 
by  Marvin  R.  Vincent,  pp.  35-66,  "The  teachers  of  Dante,"  by  Thomas 
Davidson,  and  pp.  67-81,  "  Dante's  doctrine  of  sin,"  by  William  T.  Harris. 

The  circular  announcing  the  formation  of  the  proposed  society  is  reprinted 
in  a  notice  of  the  plan  of  organization  in  Modern  language  notes,  Jan.  1891, 
vol.  vi,  pp.  28-29.  No  more  than  the  above  volume  was  ever  published.  The 
Society  has  ceased  to  exist. 

Brown,  George  P.  Dante's  Divina  commedia  ;  an  interpretation.  {In  the 
Public  school  journal,  (Bloomington,  111.).     April-Dec.  1891.     vol.  x.) 

Concluded  in  1892. 

[Carpenter,  George  Rice.]  The  known  in  Dante's  life.  (/«  the  Nation. 
June  18,  1 891.     vol.  Hi,  pp.  504-505.) 

Reviews  Scartazzini's  "  Prolegomeni." 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  127 

Cook,  Albert  Stanborough.     The  literary  genealogy  of  Tennyson's  Ulysses. 
{In  Poet-lore.     1891.     vol.  iii,  no.  10,  pp.  499-504.) 
Treats  of  Tennyson's  indebtedness  to  Dante. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.     Tenth  annual  report.    Cambridge,  John 
Wilson  ^r' Son.     1891.    8°.     pp.60. 

pp.  15-31,  "Additions  to  the  Dante  collection  in  Harvard  College  library," 
compiled  by  W.  C.  Lane;  pp.  32-35,  "Documents  concerning  Dante's  debts," 
and  pp.  36-60,  "  Documents  concerning  Dante's  public  life ;  pt.  i,"  compiled  by 
G.  R.  Carpenter. 

Duffield,  Charles  Wadsworth.     The  "  unreason  of  a  she-intelligence."     (/« 
Poet-lore.     Jan.  1891.     vol.  iii,  pp.  45-47.) 

Criticises  E.  Berdoe's  opinion  that  Browning's  Nymph  is  in  part  a  reproduc- 
tion of  Dante's  Beatrice  {^Poet-lore,  1890). 

Hazard,  Mrs.  Rebecca  N.    Two  views  of  Dante.    Kirkwood,  Mo.    [Privately 
printed.]     1891.     8°.     pp.  36.     Plans. 

Contains  a  reprint  of  her  paper  read  before  the  American  Akademe  in 
Dec.  1886,  published  in  their  Journal,  1887,  ^^^  ^  second  paper  entitled 
"A  new  view  of  Dante."  Inserted  in  both  the  CUL  and  HCL  copies  are 
autograph  letters  from  the  author. 

Hillard,  Miss  Katharine.     The  Beatrice  of  Dante  from  a  theosophic  point 
of  view.  I,  II.  {In  Lucifer,  (London).    Aug.  15,  Sept.  15,  1891.  vol.  viii, 
pp.  459-464;  vol.  ix,  pp.  55-60.) 
See  biographical  note  under  1889. 

Recent  Dante  literature.    {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.    Dec.  1891.   vol.  Ixviii, 
pp.  838-841.) 

Reviews  of  Norton's  "  Hell„"  and  Latham's  "  Letters  of  Dante." 

Rod,  Edouard.     Dante's  biography.     {In  Public  opinion.     Jan.  24,  1891. 
vol.  X,  p.  384.) 

Translated  passage  from  Rod's  article  in  the  Revue  des  deux  mondes, 
Dec.  15,  1890. 

Schaff,  Philip.      The  renaissance  ;  the  revival  of  learning  and  art  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.     {In  Papers  of  the  American  society 
of  church  history.     1891.     vol.  iii,  pp.  1-132.) 
pp.  13-21,  Dante. 

Same,  separately  printed.     New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam^ s  Sons.     1891. 

8°.     pp.  132. 


128  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Scott,  Fred  Newton.  Dante  interpretation.  (/«  Modern  language  notes. 
Dec.  1891.     vol.  vi,  p.  253.) 

Supporting  Todd,  H.  A.     A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51.     1891. 

Todd,  Henry  Alfred.  A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51.  [•'  Ch'  avran  di 
consolar  T  anime  donne."]  {In  Modern  language  notes.  Nov.  1891. 
vol.  vi,  pp.  195-196.) 

Claims  the  word  donne  to  be  the  past  participle  of  donare. 
See  also  Scott,  F.  N.     Dante  interpretation.     1891. 
Speranza,  C.  L.     "A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51."     1892. 
T[odd],  H.  A.     "A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51."     1892. 

[Unity  Club,  St.  Louis.']  Dante :  illustrated  in  art  and  music.  [St.  Louis. 
1 89 1.]    24°.    pp.3. 

Programme  of  an  entertainment  given  by  the  Unity  Club  of  the  Church  of 
the  Unity,  St.  Louis. 

[Wendell,  Barrett.]  Mr.  Lowell  as  a  teacher.  {In  Scribner's  magazine. 
Nov.  1 891.     vol.  X,  pp.  645-649.) 

Describes  Lowell's  method  of  conducting  the  study  of  Dante  at  Harvard 
College.  Reprinted  in  Wendell's  "  Stelligeri,  and  other  essays  concerning 
America."  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  1893.  16°.  pp.  203-217. 
Cited  in  the  body  of  the  present  work,  pp.  57-58. 

[Williams,  Francis  Howard.]  [Beatrice  and  Numpholeptos.]  {In  Poet-lore. 
Mar.  1 891.     vol.  iii,  pp.  163-164.) 

Extract  from  a  paper  read  before  the  Philadelphia  Browning  Club.  Takes 
the  ground  that  Browning's  Numpholeptos  was  "the  embodiment  of  a  purely 
ethical  ideal,  while  Beatrice  was  the  embodiment  of  a  religious  ideal." 


%*  Reviews  :  —  Agnelli's  "Topo-cronografia  del  viaggio  dantesco,"  Del 
Lungo's  "Beatrice  nella  vita  e  nella  poesia  del  secolo  xiii,"  and  Ricci's  "L'ulti- 
mo  rifugio  di  Dante,"  by  H.  A.  Rennert  in  Modern  language  notes,  1891,  vol.  vi, 
pp.  214-217  ;  —  Howell's  translation  of  "  De  vulgari  eloquentia  "  in  the  Nation, 
Oct.  8,  1891,  vol.  Iii,  p.  282-283,  by  H.  A.  Rennert  in  Modern  language  notes, 
1891,  vol.  vi,  pp.  143-145. 


1892. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot 
Norton,  ii.  Purgatory.  Boston,  etc.^  Houghton,  Mifflin  6r*  Co.  1892 
[91].    sm.  8°.    pp.  ix  +  (i)  4-  216. 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  129 

Reviewed  [by  W.  R.  Thayer]  in  the  Nation,  Feb.  18,  1892,  vol.  liv,  pp.  134- 
135;  —  by  P.  Toynbee  in  the  Academy ,  July  23,  1892,  p.  64 ;  —  in  the  Literary 
world,  Jan.  16,  1892,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  23 ;  —  in  the  Athenaum,  Feb.  13,  1892,  pp. 
212-213;  —  i^  ^^^  Critic,  Feb.  27,  1892,  vol.xvii,  pp.  123-124; — in  th.e  Saturday 
review.  Mar.  19,  1892,  pp.  23^337  5  —  by  E.  Cavaiza  in  New  world,  Mar.  1892, 
vol.  i,  p.  188  ;  —  by  W.  M.  Payne  in  the  Dial,  June,  1892,  vol.  xiii,  p.  56. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot 
Norton,  iii.  Paradise.  Bosion,  etc.,  Houghton,  Miffiin  &^  Co.  1892. 
sm.  8°.  ~  pp.  ix  +  (i)+  233. 

Reviewed  in  the  Athenceum,  July  2,  1892,  p.  34;  —  in  the  Nation,  Aug.  11, 
1892,  vol.  Iv,  pp.  iio-iii  ;  —  in  the  Critic,  Aug.  20,  1892,  vol.  xviii,  pp.  90-91 ; 
— 'in  the  Saturday  review,  Aug.  20,  1892,  pp.  224-226;  —  by  W.  M.  Payne  in 
the  Dial,  Sept.  16,  1892,  vol.  xiii,  p.  190. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot 
Norton.  [Large  paper  ed.]  Cambridge,  Riverside  Press.  1892. 
3  vols.     8°. 

250  copies. 

The  new  life  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Charles  Eliot  Norton 
[with  essays  and  notes].  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  6r»  Co.  1892. 
sm.  8°.     pp.  (i)  -f-  168. 

Same.     [Large  paper  ed.]     Q2Xi{}ax\^gt,  Riverside  Press.     1892.    8°. 

pp.  (I) +  168. 

250  copies. 

Essays  :  —  On  the  New  life.  —  The  Convito  and  the  Vita  nuova.  —  On  the 
structure  of  the  Vita  nuova. 

"  I  have  not  prefixed  to  my  translation  a  preface  or  introduction,  preferring 
to  let  the  little  book  present  itself  to  the  reader  without  help  or  hindrance.  I 
would  have  it  read  as  Dante  left  it.  In  the  essays  and  notes  which  follow,  I 
have  endeavored  to  say  only  what  may  lead  to  the  appreciation  of  it,  or  may 
remove  difficulties  in  its  interpretation."  —  p.  93. 

Reviewed  in  the  Nation,  Nov.  24, 1892,  vol.  Iv,  p.  398 ;  —  in  the  Dial,  Dec.  16, 
1892,  vol.  xiii,  p.  399 ;  — in  the  Saturday  review,  Jan.  28,  1893,  PP-  105-106;  — 
in  the  Literary  world,  Feb.  25,  1893,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  59. 

Aldrich,  Miss  Anne  Reeve.  Francesca  and  Paolo,  {hi  her  Songs  about 
life,  love,  and  death.  New  York,  Charles  Scribner''s  Sons.  1892.  16*'. 
P-  33) 


I30  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Brown,  George  P.     Dante's  Divina  commedia  ;  an  interpretation.    {In  the 
Public  school  journal.     1892.     vol.  xi.) 
Concluded  from  1891. 

Carducci,  Giosufe.  Dante ;  [sonnet].  —  Dante.  —  On  the  sixth  centenary  of 
Dante;  [sonnet].  —  Beatrice.  {In  his  Poems.  Translated,  with  two 
introductory  essays,  by  Frank  Sewall.  New  York,  Dodd^  Mead  &*  Co. 
1892.     sm.  8°.     pp.  85,  120-129.) 

[Carpenter,  George  Rice.]  French  Dante  manuscripts.  (/;/  the  Nation. 
Nov.  3,  1892.     vol.  Iv,  p.  339.) 

Reviews  Auvray's  "  Les  manuscrits  de  Dante  des  biblioth^ques  de  France," 
and  "  Traite  de  reloquence  vulgaire ;  manuscrit  de  Grenoble  public  par 
Maignien  et  Prompt." 

Conway,  James.  Beatrice  and  other  allegorical  characters  of  Dante 
Alighieri.  {In  the  American  Catholic  quarterly  review.  May,  1892. 
vol.  xvi,  pp.  253-275.) 

Reprinted  in  part  in  the  Literary  digest.,  1892,  vol.  v,  pp.  12-13. 

Dante  and  Ariosto.  {In  American  notes  and  queries.  Jan.  23,  1892.  vol. 
viii,  p.  135.) 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Eleventh  annual  report.  Cambridge, 
John  Wilson  Or' Son.     1892.    8°.    pp.  109. 

pp.  15-53,  "Documents. concerning  Dante's  public  life;  pt.  ii,"  compiled  by 
G.  R.  Carpenter;  pp.  55-72,  "Additions  to  the  Dante  collection  in  Harvard 
College  library,"  compiled  by  W.  C.  Lane;  pp.  73-109,  "The  personal 
character  of  Dante  as  revealed  in  his  writings,"  by  Lucy  Allen  Paton.  In  the 
report  proper  is  given  an  extract  from  one  of  Lowell's  unpublished  college- 
lectures  in  which  he  told  of  his  method  of  studying  Dante.  This  part  of  the 
report  was  reprinted  in  the  Critic,  Aug.  20,  1892,  vol.  xviii,  p.  97,  under  the  title 
"  Lowell's  love  of  Dante  ";  it  is  also  cited  in  the  body  of  the  present  work,  pp. 

55-56. 

Miss  Paton's  article,  "being  the  essay  by  a  member  of  the  school  of  the 
Society  for  the  collegiate  instruction  for  women,  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  to  which 
'The  Sara  Greene  Timmins  prize'  was  awarded  in  1891,"  was  also  separately 
printed  as  no.  4  of  the  Fay  house  monographs.  Boston,  Ginn  ^^  Co.  1892. 
8°.    pp.  44.    Noticed  in  the  Literary  world,  July  1 5, 1893,  vol.  xxiv,  pp.  228-229. 

Davidson,  Thomas.  The  Paradise  of  Dante  ;  a  lecture  at  the  Dante  school, 
April  20,  [1892].  {In  the  Parthenon,  (Chicago).  May  5,  12,  1892. 
vol.  i,  nos.  25,  26.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY, 


i3» 


M 


Davies,  Samuel  David.  Dante's  claim  to  poetic  eminence.  {In  Poet-lore. 
Oct.  1892.     vol.  iv,  pp.  490-497.) 

The  author  denies  such  claim  and  finds  only  tediousness  and  brutality  in  the 
Divine  comedy. 

Noticed  in  the  Nation,  Dec.  8,  1892,  vol.  Iv,  p.  433. 

Evans,  E.  W.,  jr.  The  ethics  of  the  Divine  comedy.  {In  the  Princeton 
college  bulletin.     June,  1892.     vol.  iv,  pp.  60-62.) 

An  abstract  of  a  paper  read  before. the  Princeton  College  Philosophical 
Club,  May  17,  1892. 

Fawcett,  Edgar.  To  Dante;  [sonnet].  {In  the  Cosmopolitan.  Oct.  1892. 
vol.  xiii,  p.  719.) 

Foote,  Arthur.  Symphonischer  Prolog  ;  "  Francesca  da  Rimini."  [C  minor.] 
Fiir  grosses  Orchester.  Op.  24.  \_Fu II  score.']  Boston  &  Leipzig,  ^rM«r 
P.  Schmidt.     1892.    1.  8°.    pp.  79. 

Performed  at  the  Boston  Symphony  Concerts  of  Jan.  23, 1891  and  Mar.  2, 1895. 
For  notices,  see  the  Boston  herald,  Jan.  25,  1891,  the  Boston  evening  transcript, 
Jan.  24,  1891,  Mar.  4,  1895,  and  *^^  bulletins  issued  by  the  management  for  the 
two  respective  concerts.  Inserted  in  the  HCL  copy  is  an  autograph  letter  from 
the  composer. 

Harrison,  Miss  Elizabeth.  The  vision  of  Dante  ;  a  story  for  little  children 
and  a  talk  to  their  mothers.  Illustrated  by  Walter  Crane.  Chicago, 
Kindergarten  College.     1892.    4°.    pp.21,    -^plates. 

Printed  on  one  side  of  the  leaf  only.  Second  edition  (a  re-impression  of 
the  above),  1894  [93]. 

Horton,  George.  Dante's  story  of  Francesca ;  [sonnet].  {In  his  Songs  of 
the  lowly,  and  other  poems.  Q\i\z2igo,  F.  J.  Schulte  &^  Co.  [1892.]  12°. 
p.  181.) 

Lounsbury,  Thomas  Raynesfprd.  [Chaucer's  obligations  to  Dante.]  {In 
his  Studies  in  Chaucer,  his  life  and  writings.  New  York,  Harper  &^ Bros. 
1892.     8°.     vol.  ii,  pp.  236-246.) 

"  Particularly  interesting  is  Mr.  Lounsbury's  estimate  of  Chaucer's  obliga- 
tions to  Dante,  which  is  very  different  from  that  of  Skeat  and  Ten  Brink,  but 
seems  judicious."  —  Nation,  Mar.  17,  1892. 

Mabie,  Hamilton  Wright.     Some  modern  readings  from  Dante.     {In  his 
Essays  in  literary  interpretation.     New  York,  Dodd^  Mead  ^^  Co.     1892. 
16°.    pp.  175-205.    Port.) 
The  portrait  is  the  same  as  that  inscribed  "■  Collon  de  la  Sorbonne." 


132 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Matson,  Henry.       Dante  and  Milton.      (/«  his   References  for  literary- 
workers.     Chicago,  A.  C.  McClurg  &*  Co.     1892.     12°.     pp.  273-275.) 

Mitchell,  Mrs.  Ellen  M.     Twelve  lessons  on  Dante's  Divina  commedia ; 
[syllabus].     Denver,  Col.    [1892.]     16°.    pp.  3. 

Mott,  Lewis  Freeman.      Dante  and  Beatrice  ;  an  essay  in  interpretation. 
l^^yi^oxVi,  William  R.Jenkins.     1892.     16°.    pp.48. 
Noticed  in  the  Critic,  July  30,  1892,  vol.  xviii,  p.  55. 

Snider,  Denton  Jaques.   Dante's  Inferno;  a  commentary.   St.  Louis,  Sigma 
Publishing  Co.    (cop.  1892.)    8°.    pp.472. 

"  The  book  .  .  .  has  never  been  really  published.  ...     I  printed  the  work 
chiefly  for  the  use  of  my  classes."  —  From  a  private  letter. 

Reviewed  in  the  Nation,  Nov.  2,  1893,  vol.  Ivii,  p.  329  ;  —  in  the  Literary 
world,  Feb.  10,  1894,  vol.  xxv,  p.  39;  —  in  the  Critic,  May  19,  1894,  vol.  xxii, 
P-  337- 
Speranza,  Carlo  L.      "A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51."     (/«  Modern 
language  notes.    Feb.,  March,  1892.    vol.  vii,  pp.  36-39,  93-95.) 

Reviews  Todd's  "A  new  exegesis  of  Purg.  xix.  51."     1891. 

T[odd],  H[enry]   A[lfred].      "A  new  exegesis  of   Purg.  xix.  51."      {In 
Modern  language  notes.    Feb.  1892.    vol.  vii,  p.  39.) 
A  reply  to  Prof.  Speranza's  article  in  the  same  number. 


%*  Reviews  :  —  Butler's  "Hell,"  in  the  Nation,  May  1 2,  1892,  vol.  liv,  p.  365, 
in  the  Literary  world.  May  21,  1892,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  183,  in  the  Critic,  June  4, 
1892,  vol.  xvii,  p.  311,  by  W.  M.  Payne  in  the  Dial,  June,  1892,  vol.  xiii,  p.  56; 

—  Berthier's  "  La  divina  commedia  commentata  secondo  la  scolastica,"  and 
Ricci's  "  L'ultimo  rifugio  di  Dante,"  in  the  Nation,  May  19,  1892,  vol.  liv,  p.  378; 

—  Scartazzini's  "  Dante-Handbuch,"  in  the  Nation,  June  2,  1892,  vol.  liv,  pp. 
414-415.  O.  Browning's  "Dante,"  noticed  in  the  Nation,  Jan.  28,  1892,  vol. 
liv,  p.  72,  in  the  Critic,  March  5,  1892,  vol.  xvii,  p.  137,  in  the  Literary  world, 
April  9,  1892,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  130. 

1893. 

The  divine  comedy  of  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  into  English  verse  by 
Thomas  William  Parsons.  With  a  preface  by  Charles  Eliot  Norton, 
and  a  memorial  sketch  by  Louise  Imogen  Guiney.  Boston,  etc., 
Houghton,  Mifflin  ^  Co.     1893.     sm.  8°.     pp.  xix  +  353. 

The  preface  is  a  reprint  of  the  remarks  made  by  Mr.  Norton  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Dante  Society,  May,  1893. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  133 

Reviewed  in  tlie  Literary  world,  Dec.  30,  1893,  vol.  xxiv,  pp.  462-463  ;  —  by 
W.  M.  Payne  in  the  Dial,  Feb.  i,  1894,  vol.  xvi,  pp.  85-86;  —  in  the  Critic, 
July  14,  1894,  vol.  XXV,  pp.  21-22. 

See  also  [Carpenter,  G.  R.]  A  poet's  Dante.     1894. 

Cacciaguida's  prophecy  of  Dante's  banishment ;  Paradise,  canto  xvii.  [46- 
138.]  [Translated  by]  Basil  Tempest.  {In  the  Week,  (Toronto). 
Dec.  15,  1893.  vol.  xi,  p.  58.) 
A  free  rendering  in  terza  rim  a. 
El  infierno  del  Dante  ;  traduccidn  en  verso  ajustada  al  original,  con  nuevos 
comentarios,  [by]  Bartolome  Mitre.  3a  ed.,  corregida  y  aumentada. 
Buenos  Aires, /. /'^wj'^r.     1893.     16°.    pp.  xxxi  +  490 -f  (i).    Frontisp. 

CUL. 

Bryant,  William  McKendree.  Historical  presuppositions  and  foreshadow- 
ings  of  Dante's  Divine  comedy.  (/«  the  Andover  review.  Sept.-Oct. 
1893.    vol.  xix,  pp.  525-550.) 

"  This  paper  is  one  of  a  course  of  lectures  on  Dante,  delivered  under  the 
auspices  of  the  '  Froebel  Society '  (Kindergartners)  of  St.  Louis,  February, 
1893." 

Same.,  separately  printed.     [Boston,  1893.]    8°.    pp.26.  CUL. 

Inserted  in  the  CUL  copy  are  two  letters  from  the  author. 

Clark,  William.  Notes  on  Dante.  I-VII.  {In  the  Week,  (Toronto). 
Oct.  27,  Nov.  3,  ID,  17,  24,  Dec.  i,  8,  1893.) 

Cram,  Ralph  Adams.  Dante  in  exile ;  [sonnet].  {In  the  New  England 
magazine.    June,  1893.    vol.  viii,  p.  525.) 

Dante.    {In  the  Reader,  (Cambridge,  Mass.).    Feb.  16,  1893.    vol.  i,  p.  46.) 
A  short  list  of  books  for  the  study  of  Dante. 

Dante  on  the  glory  of  Mary.  {In  the  Ave  Maria.  July  8,  1893.  vol. 
xxxvii,  p.  49.)  CUL. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge.,  Mass.  Twelfth  annual  report.  Cambridge, 
John  Wilson  &^  Son.     1893.    8°.    pp.  39. 

In  the  Report  proper  are  given  Mr.  Norton's  remarks  on  Dr.  Parsons'  life- 
long devotion  to  Dante,  together  with  some  criticism  of  his  translation. 

pp.  17-24,  "Dante's  obligations  to  the  De  officiis  in  regard  to  the  division 
and  order  of  sins  in  the  Inferno,"  by  E.  Moore,  —  an  elaboration  of  an  article 
published  in  the  Academy,  June  4,  1892  ;  pp.  25-39,  "Additions  to  the  Dante 
collection  in  Harvard  College  library,"  compiled  by  W.  C.  Lane. 

Noticed  in  the  Critic,  May  19,  1894,  vol.  xxi,  pp.  ';^2^32i7  '■>  —  ^^  ^^^  Dial, 
Feb.  I,  1895,  vol.  viii,  p.  89. 


134  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Harris,  William  Torrey.  Dante's  Inferno  and  Purgatorio:  the  essential 
difference  of  their  punishments.  (/«  St.  Louis  Froebel  society,  1892- 
1893.    [St.  Louis.     1893.]    24°.    pp.  11-20.) 

At  the  celebration  of  the  20th  anniversary  of  the  introduction  of  the  Kinder- 
garten into  the  St.  Louis  Public  Schools,  and  the  opening  of  the  Public 
Library,  a  "  Dante  School "  was  held  during  the  week  of  Feb.  18-25,  1893. 
Besides  the  address  from  which  the  above  extract  is  taken  the  following  papers 
were  read:  Geo.  P.  Brown,  "  The  relation  of  the  Divine  comedy  to  education"; 
Wm.  M.  Bryant,  "Historical  presuppositions  and  fore-shadowings  of  Dante's 
Divine  comedy";  Mrs.  J.  C.  Learned,  "The  symbolism  of  Dante";  H.  W. 
Mabie,  "Some  modem  lessons  from  Dante";  D.  J.  Snider,  "Dante's  Purga- 
torio." 

Hovey,  Richard.  Seaward  ;  an  elegy  on  the  death  of  T.  W.  Parsons. 
Boston,  D.  Lothrop  ^  Co.    1893.    sm.  8°.    pp.  (48).    Port. 

Contains,  among  the  notes,  estimates  of  Parsons  by  E.  C.  Stedman,  W.  R. 
Alger ;  also  the  author's  paper,  "  Thomas  William  Parsons  ;  a  study  "  (from 
the  Atlantic  monthly,  Feb.  1893,  vol.  Ixxi,  pp.  264-270),  in  which  Parsons' 
theory  of  translation  is  supported. 

Marsh,  Arthur  Richmond.  Dante  Alighieri.  (/«  Johnson's  universal 
cyclopaedia.  New  edition.  New  York,  A.  J.  Johnson  Co.  1893.  1.  8°. 
vol.  ii,  pp.  656-663.) 

Dante  at  Oxford.    {In  the  Nation.    April  27,  1893.    vol.  Ivi,  pp.  311- 

312.) 

Called  forth  by  a  review,  of  the  "Translatio  et  comentum  totius  libri 
Dantis  "  of  Johannes  de  Serravalle,  in  the  Nation,  April  6,  1893,  P*  262. 

McClintock,  William  D.  and  Porter  Lander  McClintock.  Song  and  legend 
from  the  Middle  Ages.  Meadville,  Pa.,  Flood  &^  Vincent.  1893.  12°. 
pp.  xii+  141. 

pp.  1 13-132,  Dante.  Gives  an  account  of  the  Vita  nuova  and  Divina 
commedia,  with  selections  from  Rossetti's  and  Gary's  translations. 

Sewall,  Frank.  Dante  and  Swedenborg ;  with  other  essays  on  the  new 
Renaissance,    l^on^on,  James  Spiers.  1893.    sm.  8°.  pp.  (2)+ 149+ (3). 

p.  I,  "Dante";  [sonnet]  ;  pp.  2-59,  "Dante  and  Swedenborg";  pp.  60-80, 
"The  spiritual  sense  of  Dante,  a  review"  [of  W.  T.  Harris'  book,  1889]. 

Reviewed  in  the  New  Jerusalem  magazine,  Feb.  1893,  ^°^*  ^^^^'  PP*  'M-i^Sj 
—  in  the  Literary  world  (London). 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


135 


Sherman,  Lucius  A.  Analytics  of  literature;  a  manual  for  the  objective 
study  of  English  prose  and  poetry.  Boston,  Ginn  Or'  Co.  1893.  8°. 
pp.  XX  +  468. 

pp.  44-46,  130-132,  385-388,  treat  of  Dante's  verse  structure. 

Snider,  Denton  Jaques.  Dante's  Purgatorio  and  Paradiso  ;  a  commentary. 
St.  Louis,  Sigma  Publishing  Co.    (cop.  1893.)    8°.    pp.  584. 

Tassin,  Algernon  de  Vivier.  The  allegory  of  the  Inferno.  MS.  [1893.] 
pp.  (2)  +  49. 

Thesis  written  in  the  course  Italian  4,  Harvard  College,  1892-93  ;  deposited 
in  the  library. 

Thayer,  William  Roscoe.  Dante.  (Jn  his  The  dawn  of  Italian  independ- 
ence. Boston,  etc.,  Houghton^  Miffiifi  &>  Co.  1893  (cop.  1892.)  8°. 
vol.  i,  pp.  52-59-) 

Waugh,  Arthur.  London  letter.  (In  the  Critic.  May  13,  1893.  vol.  xix 
pp.  315-316.) 

A  description  of  the  London  Dante  exhibition  of  1893. 


*j,t*  Reviews  :  —  Shadwell's  "  Purgatory,"  in  the  Dial,  March  16,  1893,  vol. 
xiv,  pp.  183-184,  in  the  Literary  world,  June  3,  1893,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  172,  in  the 
Critic,  Oct.  21,  1893,  vol.  xx,  p.  253;  —  Gurney's  "Dante's  Pilgrim's  progress," 
in  the  Critic,  July  29,  1893,  vol.  xx,  pp.  65-66;  —  Scartazzini's  "Companion 
to  Dante  "  (Butler's  translation),  in  the  Nation,  Nov.  9,  1893,  vol.  Ivii,  p.  350 ; 
—  Symonds'  "  Introduction  to  the  study  of  Dante,"  in  the  Critic,  Aug.  19, 1893, 
vol.  XX,  p.  124.  Janitschek's  "Die  Kunstlehre  Dante's  und  Giotto's  Kunst," 
noticed  in  the  Nation,  Feb.  9,  1893,  vol.  Ivi,  p.  105. 


1894. 

La  divina  commedia  di  Dante  Alighieri ;  teste  comune  colle  variazione  dei 
codici  publicati  da  Carlo  Witte.  Prima  edizione  americana  arricchita 
del  ritratto  di  Dante  per  Gustavo  Dord.  Boston,  Lee  e  Shepard.  1894. 
8°-     PP-  (9)  +  545.     Port. 

Re-impression  from  the  plates  of  the  Boston  edition  of  1867. 

Dante's  Inferno,  condensed  [from  the  translation  by  J.  A.  Carlyle], 
Edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  Isabella  White.      New  York. 


136  AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Maynard,  Merrill  ^  Co.    (cop.  1894.)     16°.    pp.48.    (English  classic 
series.     No.  147.) 

Gives  also  Mrs.  Oliphant's  rendering  of  Inf.  ii.  52-117,  and  D.  G.  Rossetti's 
rendering  of  Inf.  v.  1 12-142.  Inserted  in  the  HCL  copy  is  a  letter  from  the 
editor. 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey.  A  portrait  of  Thomas  William  Parsons  ;  a  foot- 
note. {In  the  Century  magazine.  July,  1894.  vol.  xlviii,  pp.  323-324. 
Port.) 

Speaks  of  Dr.  Parsons'  lifelong  devotion  to  Dante,  and  prints  the  "  Lines 
on  a  bust  of  Dante." 

The  portrait,  reproduced  in  a  photo-engraving  (T.  Johnson,  jr.),  is  from  a 
photograph  by  Mr.  Dexter,  an  amateur.  It  is  to  be  found  also  in  the  Bostonian^ 
June,  1895. 

Berenson,  Bemhard.  Dante's  visual  images  and  his  early  illustrators.  (Jn 
the  Nation.     Feb.  i,  1894.    vol.  Iviii,  pp.  82-83.) 

Bogue,  Horace  P.  V.  Paradise  lost  and  the  Divine  comedy.  (Jn  Dodge, 
M.  G.  and  D.  W.  Burke,  editors.  The  Clark  prize  book.  Clinton,  N.Y. 
1894.    16°.    pp.  1 1 5-1 23.) 

Exhibition  of  1863,  Hamilton  College.     Here  printed  for  the  first  time. 

Cappon,  James.  The  legend  of  Ulysses  in  Dante  and  Tennyson.  I-II. 
{In  Queen's  quarterly,  (Kingston,  Canada).  April,  July,  1894.  vol.  i, 
PP-  305-315  ;  vol.  ii,  pp.  62-70.) 

[Carpenter,  George  Rice.]  A  poet's  Dante.  {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.  June, 
1894.    vol.  Ixxiii,  pp.  843-846.) 

A  review  of  the  work  of  T.  W.  Parsons.  Reprinted  in  part  in  the  Literary 
digest^  1894,  vol.  ix,  p.  160. 

Cooke,  George  Willis.  Browning's  interpretation  of  romantic  love  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  Plato,  Dante,  and  Petrarch.  {In  Poet-lore.  1 894. 
vol.  vi,  pp.  225-238.) 

The  author  has  also  drawn  a  comparison  between  Browning  and  Dante  in 
his  "  Poets  and  problems,"  Boston,  Ticknor  dr»  Co.,  1886,  p.  324. 

Crane,  Thomas  Frederick.  The  Dante  library.  {In  the  Cornell  magazine. 
May,  1894.    vol.  vi,  pp.  273-281.)  CUL. 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  137 

< Same,  separately  printed.      The  Dante  library  presented  by  Willard 

Fiske  to  Cornell  University,  1 893-1 894.      Ithaca,  1894.     8°.     pp.  11. 
See  also  [Snell,  F.  J.]  Dante  in  America.     1896. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Thirteenth  annual  report.  Boston, 
Ginn  &>  Co.     1894.     8°.     pp.  16  +  17  +  28. 

pp.  1-16,  "Additions  to  the  Dante  collection  in  Harvard  College  library," 
compiled  by  W.  C.  Lane;  pp.  1-28,  "  Index  of  proper  names  in  the  prose  works 
and  Canzoniere  of  Dante,"  by  Paget  Toynbee. 

Noticed  in  the  Athen<zum,  Jan.  19,  1895,  P-  ^4>  —  ^^  the  Dial,  Feb.  i,  1895, 
p.  89. 

Durand-Fardel,  Max.  One  view  of  Dante's  Beatrice.  (In  the  Literary 
digest.     1894.     vol.  viii,  p.  583.) 

Translated  and  condensed  from  the  Nouvelle  revue,  Mar.  1894. 

Howells,  William  Dean.  [Dante.]  (/«  the  Ladies  home  journal.  Dec. 
1894.) 

Reprinted  in  his  "  My  literary  passions."  New  York,  Harper  and  Bros. 
1895.     sm.  8°.     pp.  198-205. 

Kuhns,  Levi  Oscar.  Dante  Alighieri  and  the  "  New  life."  {In  the 
Methodist  review.    May-June,  1894.    vol.  Ixxvi,  pp.  369-386.) 

[McKenzie,  Kenneth.]  The  rise  of  the  "  dolce  stil  nuovo  "  and  its  develop- 
ment up  to  the  time  of  Dante.  An  essay  by  "  Coeur  de  Lion"  [^pseud.']. 
1894.     4°.     ff.  xiv  +  203.     MS. 

Deposited  in  HCL.  The  prize  offered  by  the  Dante  Society  was  awarded 
the  author  for  this  essay. 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot.  [Syllabus  of]  Lectures  on  Dante  ;  Percy  TurnbuU 
memorial  lectureship  of  poetry,  Johns  Hopkins  University.  [Baltimore. 
March,  1894.]    n.  t.-p.,  n.  p.,  n.  d.     8°.      pp.  6. 

Reported  briefly  in  the  Baltimore  American  for  Mar.  30,  31,  April  3,  5,  7,  10, 
1894.     Noticed  in  the  Bolletino  delle  pubblicazioni  italiane,  May  31,  1894. 

These  lectures  were  repeated  in  March  and  April,  1895,  ^^  Harvard 
University.  Reported  in  the  Harvard  daily  crimson  and  Harvard  daily  news 
for  Mar.  26,  29,  April  2,  6,  9,  13,  16,  1895.  HCL  has  a  volume  made  up  of 
these  press-notices. 

Pease,  Theodore  Claudius.  Dante's  vision  of  sin  and  judgment ;  a  study 
of  the  Inferno.  (Jn  his  The  Christian  ministry,  its  present  claim  and 
attraction,  and  other  writings  ;    with  an  introduction  by  E.  C.  Smyth, 


138  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

edited  by  **  The  Fortnightly  Club."    Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  ^ 
Co.    1894.    sm.  8°-    pp.  1 41 -1 69.) 

Sinesi,  Ireneo.  The  Beatrice  of  Dante.  (/«  the  Literary  digest.  1894. 
vol.  viii,  p.  344.) 

Translated  and  condensed  from  the  Giornale  dantesco.     With  a  woodcut  of 
Scheffer's  "  Dante  and  Beatrice." 

Swing,  David.  Dante.  (/«  his  Old  pictures  of  life.  Chicago,  Stone  &» 
Kimball.     1894.     16°.    vol.  i,  pp.  165-197.) 

Trask,  Mrs.  Katrina.  Paolo  to  Francesca  ;  [sonnet].  (/«  her  Sonnets  and 
lyrics.    New  York,  A.  D.  F.  Randolph.     1894.     16°.    p.  25.) 

Tucker,  Genevieve.  A  study  of  Dante.  (/;/  the  Chatauquan  magazine. 
June,  1894.    vol.  xix,  pp.  284-289.) 

Watson,  John.    Dante  and  medieval  thought.  I-III.  (/«  Queen's  quarterly, 
(Kingston,  Canada).    April,  July,  Oct.  1894.  vol.  i,  pp.  253-266;  vol.  ii, 
pp.  25-38,  1 10-122.) 
Concluded  in  1895. 

Wibbelt,  August.  Mary  in  Dante's  Paradise.  [Translated  by  John  M. 
ToOHEY.]  (/»  the  Ave  Maria.  June  2,  9,  1894.  vol.  xxxviii,  pp.  589- 
591,  625-627.)  CUL. 

The  original  article  appeared  in  Der  Katholik. 


%*  Reviews  :  —  Sullivan's  "  Hell,"  in  the  Critic,  May  19,  1894,  vol.  xxiv, 
p.  337,  in  the  Literary  world,  Feb.  10, 1894,  vol.  xxv,  p.  39;  —  Vernon's  "  Read- 
ings on  the  Inferno  of  Dante,"  in  the  Literary  world,  June  16,  1894,  vol.  xxv, 
pp.  182-183,  in  the  Nation,  July  12,  1894,  vol.  lix,  pp.  33-34.  Lajolo's  "  Indagini 
suUa  vita  di  Dante,"  noticed  in  the  Nation,  Mar.  29,  1894,  vol.  Iviii,  p.  230. 

1895. 

The  young  Dante  to  the  lady  at  the  window.     (From  "  La  vita  nuova.") 
["  Color  d'  amore,  e  di  pietk  sembianti."]      Translated  by  L[ouise] 
I[mogen]  G[uiney].    (Jn  the  Critic.    Aug.  10,  1895.    vol.  xxiv,  p.  91.) 
Reprinted  in  the  Boston  evening  transcript,  Aug.  15,  1895. 

Baraard,  William  Francis.    To  Dante;  [sonnet].    (/«  Donahoe's  magazine. 
July,  1895.     vol.  xxxiv,  p.  790.) 
With  a  photographic  reproduction  of  the  Giotto  portrait. 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  130 

Block,  Louis  James.  Dante.  (/«  his  The  new  world,  with  other  verse. 
New  York,  G.  P.  Putnain's  Sons.     1895.    8°.    pp.  45-50.) 

Butler,  Arthur  John.  Some  Dante  questions.  {In  the  Nation.  May  23, 
1895.    vol.  Ix,  p.  399.) 

In  answer  to  a  review  of  his  "  Dante  :  his  times  and  his  work  "  in  the  Nation 
for  April  18,  1895,  p.  303.     With  a  reply  by  the  reviewer. 

Dante  Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Fourteenth  annual  report.  Boston, 
Ginn  &^  Co.     1895  [96].     8°.     pp.  54. 

pp.  21-34,  "Illustrations  of  the  Divine  comedy  from  the  Chronicle  of  Fra 
Salimbene,"  by  C.  E.  Norton  ;  pp.  35-36,  "A  variant  in  the  Vita  nuova,"  by 
E.  Moore  (from  the  Academy,  Dec.  i,  1894,  vol.  xlvi,  pp.  448-449)  ;  pp.  37-54, 
"Additions  to  the  Dante  collection  in  the  Harvard  College  library,"  compiled 
by  W.  C.  Lane. 

Davenport,  Benjamin  R.  Dante's  Inferno  [epitomized].  {In  Davenport, 
B.  R.,  editor.  The  best  fifty  books  of  the  greatest  authors  condensed 
for  busy  people  ;  comprising  the  most  famous  works  in  all  literature, 
with  biographies  of  the  great  writers  of  all  ages.  Buffalo,  Matthews- 
Nozthrup  Co.  1895.  8°.  pp.  43-69.  Port.) 
The  portrait  is  after  Raphael  Morghen's  engraving. 

Dole,  Nathan  Haskell.  The  teacher  of  Dante.  {In  the  Bachelor  of  arts. 
Nov.  1895.    vol.  i,  pp.  721-7 so.) 

An  account  of  the  work  of  Brunetto  Latini,  with  original  translations  from 
his  "  II  tesoretto." 

Drury,  Belle  P.  A  woman's  view  of  Dante.  {In  the  Globe  quarterly  review. 
Jan.  1895.    vol.  V,  pp.  77-84.) 

Ford,  Jeremiah  Denis  Matthias.  Dante's  influence  upon  Spanish  literature 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.   1895.    4°.    ff.  145.     MS. 

The  prize  offered  by  the  Dante  Society  was  awarded  the  author  for  this 
essay  in  1896. 

Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward.  Dante  and  Beatrice.  {In  her  Is  polite  society 
polite?  and  other  essays.  Boston,  ^/<;.,  Zawj^«,  Wolffe  ^^  Co.  1895. 
8°.    pp.  181-202.) 

A  lecture  written  for  the  Summer  School  of  Philosophy  at  Concord,  Mass., 
and  delivered  there  in  1886.  For  a  list  of  other  papers  read  there,  see  Concord 
school  (The)  on  Dante.     1886. 


I40  AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Kuhns,  Levi  Oscar.  Some  verbal  resemblances  in  the  Orlando  furioso  and 
the  Divina  commedia.  {In  Modern  language  notes.  June,  1895.  vol.  x, 
pp.  170-174.) 

Same^  separately  printed.    [Baltimore,  1895.]    4°.    pp.4. 

[La  Ram^,  Mile.  Louise  de,]  pseud.  Ouida.  Paolo  and  Francesca.  (/«  the 
Cosmopolitan  magazine.    Jan.  1895.    vol.  xviii,  pp.  259-270.) 

The  fifth  in  a  series  of  articles  by  popular  authors  on  the  "  Great  passions 
of  history."  Illustrated  by  photographic  reproductions  of  paintings,  on  the 
theme  of  Francesca's  love,  by  G.  F.  Watts,  Gustave  Dore,  A.  Gisbert,  Alex. 
Cabanel,  and  Ary  Scheffer,  with  views  of  the  town  of  Rimini. 

Reprinted,  without  the  illustrations,  in  her  "Toxin  and  other  papers/* 
Leipzig,  B.  Tauchnitz.     1896.     16°.     pp.  135-162. 

Lawton,  William  Cranston.     "Ere  a  thousand  years  are  told";  Purg.  xi. 

100-106.  —  La    Commedia   finita.      (Jn  his   Folia   dispersa ;    poems. 

New  York,  Correll  Press.  1895.  16°.  pp.  16-19.  Port.') 
The  portrait  is  from  D.  G.  Rossetti's  painting,  "  Dante's  dream." 
"  •  La  Commedia  finita'  expresses,  as  a  soliloquy,  Dante's  supposed  feelings 

at  the  end  of  his  work.     *  Ere  a  thousand  years  are  told '  is  an  assertion  of  his 

undying  earthly  fame,  in  the  form  of  a  protest  against  Purgatorio  xi.  100-106." 

—  From  a  private  letter. 

Leland,  Charles  Godfrey.  The  apparition  of  Dante.  (Jn  his  Legends  of 
Florence  ;  collected  from  the  people  and  re-told,  ist  series.  London, 
Mactnillan.     1895.    sm.  8°     pp.  62-65.) 

Loines,  Russell  Hillard.  In  a  copy  of  the  'Vita  nuova';  [poem].  (Jn  the 
Harvard  monthly.    Nov.  1895.    vol.  xxi,  p.  79.) 

Mitchellf  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  The  'Paradise' of  Dante,  introductory  cantos. 
(Jn  Poet-lore.    Aug.-Sept.  1895.    vol.  vii,  pp.  399-405.) 

O'Malley,  Austin.     A  study  in  Dante.     (/«  the  Ave  Maria.     Aug.  24,  31, 
1895.    vol.  xli,  pp.  197-203,  234-240.) 
Inserted  in  the  CUL  copy  are  two  letters  from  the  author. 

Sadlier,  Miss  Anna  Theresa.  The  angels  of  Dante.  {In  the  Ave  Maria. 
Oct.  26,  1895.    vol.  xli,  pp.  449-453.)  CUL. 

Scudder,  Miss  Vida  Dutton.  Ideals  of  redemption,  mediaeval  and  modern ; 
Dante,  Spenser,  and  Shelley.  {In  her  Life  of  the  spirit  in  the  modern 
English  poets.  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  6^  Co.  1895.  12°. 
pp.  96-144.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


141 


Watson,  John.    Dante  and  medieval  thought.   IV-V.   {Jn  Queen's  quarterly. 
Jan.,  April,  1895.     vol.  ii,  pp.  235-248,  269-287.) 

Concluded  from  1894. 


*^*  Reviews:  —  Moore's  "Tutte  le  opera  di  Dante,"  [by  G.  R.  Carpenter] 
in  the  Nation,  Feb.  21,  1895,  vol.  Ix,  p.  147.  Oelsner's  "  The  influence  of  Dante 
on  modem  thought,"  noticed  in  the  Nation,  July  18,  1895,  vol.  Ixi,  p.  47. 


1896. 

The  new  life.  Dante  Alighieri.  Translated  by  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 
Portland,  Maine,  T'-^^/zz^ J  ^.  J/t?j^^r.  1896.  12°.  pp.  (i)-|-xiii4-(2)  +  96. 
Frontisp.     (Old  world  series.) 

925  copies  printed  on  Van  Gelder  hand-made  paper;  also  100  copies  on 
Japan  vellum.     First  appearance  of  this  translation  as  a  separate  work. 

Contents:  —  p.  (i),  Rossetti's  sonnet  "On  the  Vita  nuova  of  Dante"; 
pp.  ix-xiii,  Foreword  [publisher's  note] ;  pp.  1-88,  The  new  life ;  pp.  89-96, 
Notes. 

Frontispiece :  —  A  reproduction  of  Rossetti's  painting,  "Dante's  dream." 

Berenson,  Bemhard.  Botticelli's  illustrations  to  the  Divina  commedia.  {In 
the  Nation.     Nov.  12,  1896.     vol.  Ixiii,  p.  363-364.) 

Reviews  Lippmann's  "  Drawings  by  Sandro  Botticelli  for  Dante's  Divina 
commedia,"  London,  1896. 

[Bryant,  William  McKendree.]     Dante  study.     {In  American  journal  of 
education.     May  9,  1896.     vol.  xxix,  p.  8.) 
Speaks  of  the  CUL  Dante  collection. 

Dante  and  St.  Louis.  {In  the  Atlantic  monthly.  Sept.  1896.  vol.  Ixxviii, 
p.  432.) 

On  Dante's  failure  to  mention  the  canonized  king,  Louis  IX  of  France. 

Ounsaulus,  Frank  W.  On  the  Duchess  Sforza  with  the  stolen  cast  of  the 
head  of  Dante  ;  [sonnet].  {In  his  Songs  of  night  and  day.  Chicago, 
A.  C.  McClurg&^  Co.     1896  (cop.  1895).    8°.    p.  26.) 

Harper,  George  M'Lean.  Dante  in  Spenserian  verse.  {In  the  Dial. 
March  i,  1896.     vol.  xx,  pp.  136-137.) 

A  review  of  Musgrave's  translation  of  the  Inferno. 


142 


AMERICAN  DANTE  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Harris,  William  Torrey.  The  spiritual  sense  of  Dante's  Divina  commedia. 
[New  ed.]  Boston,  etc.,  Houghton,  Miffli7i  &*  Co.  1896.  sm.  8°. 
pp.  xxi  +  193. 

"In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1883  I  made  new  studies  on  the  whole  [of 
Dante's]  poem,  and  gave  a  course  of  ten  lectures  to  a  St.  Louis  audience  in 
1884  (January  to  March).  The  present  paper,  which  was  written  in  1886  for 
the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy,  is  a  summary  of  the  St.  Louis  course,  with 
marginal  notes  added  at  this  time."  —  Preface. 

Hereon,  Miss  Hannah  Gertrude.    An  index  to  the  classical  and  mythological 
references  of  the  Divine  comedy,  preceded  by  an  essay  upon  Dante's 
use  of  mythological  material.    MS.    [1896.]    pp.  52  +  32  +  6.      CUL. 
Thesis  presented  at  Cornell  University  for  the  degree  of  Ph.M. 

Holland,  Frederic  M.  Reading  Dante  with  Lowell.  (Jn  the  New  England 
magazine.    Jan.  1896.    vol.  xiii,  pp.  575-576.) 

Howells,  William  Dean.  The  white  Mr.  Longfellow.  (/«  Harper's 
magazine.    Aug.  1896.    vol.  xciii,  pp.  327-343.) 

Describes  incidentally  the  meetings  of  the  "  Dante  Club  "  and  speaks  of 
Longfellow's  translation. 

Kuhns,  Levi  Oscar.  Dante's  treatment  of  nature  in  the  "Divina  commedia.'* 
{In  Modern  language  notes.    Jan.  1896.    vol.  xi,  pp.  1-9.) 
First  paper :  —  His  conventional  treatment  of  nature. 

Same,  separately  printed.    [Baltimore,  1896.]    4°.    pp.9. 

The  "  Divine  comedy."      (/«  the   Methodist  review.     March-April, 

1896.    vol.  Ixxviii,  pp.  242-259.) 

[Marsh,  Arthur  Richmond.]  Scartazzini's  Dante  commentary.  {In  the 
Nation.     April  16,  1896.    vol.  Ixii,  pp.  310-31 1.) 

A  review  of  the  second  edition  of  "  La  divina  commedia  riveduta  nel  testo 
e  commentata  da  G.  A.  Scartazzini,"  Milano,  1896. 

Mott,  Lewis  Freeman.  The  system  of  courtly  love  studied  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  Vita  nuova  of  Dante.  Boston,  etc.,  Ginn  6r*  Co.  1896.  8°. 
pp.  vi-f  153  +  (I). 

"Submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia  University." 

Paine,  Selma  Ware.  Some  glimpses  of  the  unity  of  truth  in  Dante.  (In 
the  New-church  review.     Oct.  1896.    vol.  iii,  pp.  542-552.) 


AMERICAN  DANTE   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


43 


Pohl,  Richard.     Introduction  to  Liszt's  Dante-symphony.     Translated  by 
Max  M[uller]  Bryant.    [St.  Louis,  1896.]    sm.  8°.    pp.  16. 
Privately  printed  on  the  occasion  of  a  rendering  of  Liszt's  music. 

Sadlier,  Miss  Anna  Theresa.  The  word-painting  of  Dante.  (/«  the  Catholic 
world.    Sept.  1896.    vol.  Ixiii,  pp.  746-752.) 

[Snell,  Frederick  John.]     Dante  in  America.     {In  the  Speaker,  (London). 
April  4,  1896.    pp.  368-369.) 

A  description  of  the  CUL  Dante  collection,  taken  largely  from  Professor 
Crane's  account.  Noticed  in  the  Manchester  guardian,  April  11,  and  New  York 
world,  April  26,  1896  (CUL). 

Wright,  Elizabeth.     Dante's  Banquet.     {In  the   Globe  quarterly  review. 
May,  1896.    vol.  vi,  pp.  I35-I39-) 


INDEX    TO    BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Note  :  —  As  the  bibliography  is  a  chronological  one,  it  was  thought  best  to  index  it  by  referring 
to  the  years  under  which,  and  not  to  the  pages  on  which,  the  various  entries  are  to  be  found.  The 
references  have  been  abbreviated  by  writing  '86,  '87,  and  so  on,  for  1886,  1887.  When  the  number 
of  entries  under  a  particular  author  is  more  than  one  for  a  given  year,  the  number  is  indicated  by  an 
exponent  enclosed  in  parentheses.  An  asterisk  (*)  refers  to  the  reviews  of  foreign  works  grouped 
in  footnotes  under  the  more  recent  years.  To  the  extreme  conciseness  of  the  form  of  reference  are 
due  several  bibliographical  inconsistencies  of  no  great  moment. 


ed.  ■=■  editor. 
illus.  ^=-  illustrator. 


rev.  ^  reviewer. 
tr.  :=  translator. 


Abbott,  P.  S.,  rev.    See  Dante.  '91. 

Adams,  O.  F.  '86. 

Adams.  S.  H.,  tr.     See  Grimm,  H.  '86. 

tr.     See  Meyers,  C.  F.  '87. 

Agnelli,  G.     See  '91.* 
Aldrich,  A.  R.  '92. 
Aldrich,  T.  B.  '94. 
Alger,  W.  R.  '66,  '67. 
Allen,  J.  H.  '83. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Allston,  W.  '36  O. 

Altenhoefer,  A.  J.,  rev.     iSV^  Dante.  '67. 

tr.     See  Longfellow,  H.  W.  '67. 

American  Dante  Society.  '91. 
Ampere,  J.  J.  '89. 

Aretino,  L.     See  Dante  Society,   Cam- 
bridge^ Mass.  '83. 
Aube,  J.  P.  '89. 

Auvray,  L.     See  Carpenter,  G.  R.  '92. 
Azarias,  Brother.  '86. 

B.,  E.     See  Dante.  '07. 

Baker,  J.  K.  W.    See  Wetherill,  J.  K. 

Ball,  B.  W.  '51. 

Bariow,  H.  C.  't^. 

Barnard,  W.  F.  '95. 

Bates,  E.  B.,  tr.     See  Ampere,  J.  J.  '89. 


Baumgartner,  A.     See  Dante.  '67. 

tr.    See  Longfellow,  H.  W.  '67. 

Benson,  E.  '72. 

Berdoe,  E.  '90. 

Berenson,  B.  '94,  '96. 

Bernard!,  J.  '61,  '64. 

Bemays,  T.,  tr.     See  Scartazzini,  J.  A. 

'88. 
Berthier,  G.     See  '92.* 
Bicker,  A.  '85. 
Bierwirth,  H.  C.  '87. 
Block,  L.  J.  '95. 
Blow,  S.  E.  '84,  '85,  '86. 
Bogue,  H.  P.  V.  '94. 
Boker,  G.  H.  '55,  '56. 
Bone,  J.  H.  A.     See  Dante.  '67. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Bonghi,   R.,  rev.      See  Dante  Society, 

Cambridge,  Mass.  '88. 
Borsari,  F.  '87. 
Botta,  V.  '65. 

Botticelli,  S.     See  Berenson,  B.  '96. 
Bowen,  F.,  rev.      See  Longfellow,  H. 

W.  '45. 
Branchi,  E.  '83. 
Brooks,    C.    T.,    tr.      See   Dante.    '58. 

See  also  Norton,  C.  E.  '59. 


INDEX    TO   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


145 


Brown,  G.  P.  '91,  '92. 

Brown,  S.  G.  '46. 

Browning,  O.     See  '92.* 

Bryant,  M.  M.,  tr.     See  Pohl,  R.  '96. 

Bryant,  W.  C.  '69. 

Bryant,-  W.  M.  '93,  '96. 

Buonarroti,  M.  A.  '78,  '81,  '82. 

Butler,  A.  J,   '95.     See  also  '80,*  '86,* 

92  * 
Byrne,  S.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '89. 
Byron,  G.  G.  N.     '2 if),  '22,  '50,  '86. 

Calderon  de  la  Barca,  F.  I.    See  Inglis, 

F. '33. 
Caldwell,  W.  W.,  tr.    See  Geibel,  E.  '57. 
Calvert,  G.  H.  '66,  '68. 
Calvi,  C.  '90. 
Cappon,  J.  '94. 
Capri,  P.  G.  '74,  '76. 
Carducci,  G.  '88,  '92. 
Carlyle,  J.  A.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '49, 
Carlyle,  T.     See  '41. 
Carpenter,  G.  R.  '88,  '91,  " 
.  also     Dante      Society, 

Mass.  '89,  '91,  '92. 

ed.     See  Dante.  '91. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '88,  '89. 

rev.     See  Moore,  E.  '95.* 

rev.     See  Fay,  E.  A.  '88. 

Gary,  H.  F.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '22,  '45,  '88, 

'89.*     See  also  Ossoli,  S.  M.  F.  '59. 
Cavazza,  E.  '87. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '92. 

Chapman,  J.  J.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '90. 
Cheney,  E.  D.  L.,  tr.     See  Buonarroti, 

M.  A.  '81. 
Childs,  T.  H.  '86. 
Chipman,  J.  G.  '19. 
Church,  F.  J.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '88. 
Church,  R.  W.     See  '79,*  '88.* 
Clapp,  H.  A.,  rev.    See  Boker,  G.  H.  '56. 
Clark,  M.  B.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '66. 
Clark,  W.  '93. 
Clarke,  S.  '40. 


'94. 


'92,  '94.     See 
Cambridge, 


Clarke,  S.  F.  '84  O. 
Coan,  T.  M.  '74. 

tr.     See  Dante.  '74. 

Concord  School.  '86. 

Cone,  H.  G.  '86. 

Conway,  J.  '92. 

Cook,  A.  S.  '91. 

Cooke,  G.  W.  '94. 

Cooke,  P.  P.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '47. 

Coronini,  C.  G.     See  '80.* 

Cram,  R.  A.  '93. 

Crane,  T.  F.  '82,  '94. 

rev.     See  Butler,  A.  J.  '80.  * 

rev.     See  Tunison,  J.  S.  '88. 

Crane,  W.,  illus.     See  Harrison,  E.  '92. 
Creighton,  M.  '81. 
Cristofori,  F.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '89. 
Curtis,  G.  W.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 
Cutler,  E.  J.,  rev.     See  Dante.  %^  f). 

Dante    Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  '82- 

'95- 

Dante  Society,  Philadelphia.  '81. 

Darling,  A.  D.  '86. 

Davenport,  B.  R.  '95. 

Davidson,  T.  '87,  '92.  See  also  Ameri- 
can Dante  Society.  '91. 

tr.     See  Scartazzini,  J.  A.  ''Z'j. 

Davies,  S.  D.  '92. 

Dayman,  J.  See  Calvert,  G.  H.  '68. 
See  Norton,  C.  E.  '66. 

Delff,  H.  K.  H.  '82. 

Dennett,  J.  R.  '72. 

De  Peyster,  J.  W.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '85. 

Dole,  N.  H.  '95. 

Dore,  G.  '63,  '65. 

illus.     See  Dante.  '67,  '88,  '89. 

Drury,  B.  P.  '95. 

Duffield,  C.  W.  '91. 

Durand-Fardel,  M.  '94. 

Durant,  H.  '84,  '89. 

Elliott,  A.  M.,  rev.  See  Coronini,  C. 
G.  '80.* 


146 


INDEX    TO  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Evans,  E.  W.  '92. 
Everett,  E.  '50. 

F.,  tr.    See  Uhland,  (J.)  L.  '53. 

Farrar,  F.  W.  '85. 

Fawcett,  E.  '92. 

Fay,  E.  A.  '87,  '88. 

Featherstonhaugh,  G.  W.  '30. 

Fellowes,  C.  W.  '86. 

Felton,  C.  C,  rev.     See  Dante.  '43. 

rev.     See  Longfellow,  H.  W.  '45. 

Ferguson,  J.  '64. 

Field,  H.  M.,  rev.    See  Dante.  '91. 

Finotti,  J.  M.  '68. 

Fiske,  J.  '76. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Flaxman,  J.,  illus.     See  Dante.  '45. 

Foote,  A.  '92. 

Ford,  J.     See  Norton,  C.  E.  '66. 

Ford,  J.  D.  M.  '95. 

Frattini,  C,  tr.    See  Longfellow,  H.  W. 

'45- 
Frenfanelli  Cibo,   S.,  tr.     See  Bryant, 

W.  C.  '69. 
Fuller,   M.  '59.     See  also  Goodrich,  S. 

G.  '36. 
Funahashi,  T.,  tr.     See  Norton,  C.  E. 

'65. 
Furman,  R.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '59. 

Gates,  C.  H.,  tr.     See  Calvi,  C.  '90. 
Geibel,  E.  '57,  '71. 
Gilder,  R.  W.  '76. 

tr.     See  Dante.  '87. 

Gitterman,  J.  M.  '90. 

Golovanov,   N.,  tr.     See  Lowell,  J.  R. 

'59- 

tr.     See  Norton,  C.  E.  '65. 

Good,  J.  H.,  tr.     See  Schaff,  P.  '46. 

Goodrich,  S.  G.  '36,  '45. 

Gozzaldi,  M.  '89. 

Gray,  F.  C.,  tr.     See  Boccaccio,  G.  '45. 

tr.     See  Dante.  '45. 

Gray,  J.  C.  '19.   . 


Greene,  G.  W.  '67. 

Griffin,  E.  D.  '31. 

Grimm,  H.  '86. 

Guiney,  L.  L,  ed.     See  Dante.  '93. 

tr.    See  Dante.  '87  (»),  '95. 

Gunsaulus,  F.  W.  '96. 
Gumey,  E.  R.     See  '93.* 

H.  P.,  rev.    See  Gitterman,  J.  M.  '90. 
Hardy,  A.  S.  '78. 
Harper,  G.  M'L.  '96. 
Harris,   W.  T.   '87,   '89,  '93,   '96.     See 
also  American  Dante  Society.  '91. 

ed.     See  Blow,  S.  E.  '86. 

Harrison,  E.  '92. 
Haskins,  J.  '48. 
Hazard,  R.  N.  '87,  '91. 
Herson,  H.  G.  '96. 
Hillard,  G.  S.  '53. 
Hillard,  K.  '91. 

tr.     See  Dante.  '89. 

Hitchcock,  E.  A.  '66. 

Holland,  F.  M.  '96. 

Hooper,  L.  H.  J.,  tr.     See  Geibel,  E.  '71. 

tr.     See  Hugo,  V.  (M.).  '71. 

Horton,  G.  '92. 

Hovey,  R.  '93. 

Howe,  J.  W.  '57,  '66,  '95. 

Howell,  A.  G.  F.     See  '91.* 

Howells,  W.  D.  '67,  '94,  '96. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Hugo,  V.  (M.).  '71. 

Hunt,  (J.  H.)  L.  '16,  '88. 

Hunter,  T.  W.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Hyde,  A.  B.  '52. 

Ingleby,  C.  M.  '79. 
Inglis,  F.  '33. 
Irving,  W.  '41. 

Janitschek,  H.     See  '93.* 

Johnson,  W.  H.,  rev.     See  Tunison,  J. 

S.  '88. 
Junkin,  M.  '50. 


INDEX    TO   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


47 


Karsten,  G.  '88. 

Kelly,  W.  '88. 

Kemble,  F.  A.  '59. 

Kennedy,  W.  S.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Knapp,  P.  C,  jr.  '84.     See  also  Dante 

Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  '84. 
Knortz,  K.  '83,  '86.    See  also  Dante.  '67. 
Kolstoi,  C.  S.  '86. 
Kraus,  F.  X.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '91. 

rev.     See  Lane,  W.  C.  '90. 

Kroeger,  A.  E.,   tr.     See   Delff,  H.  K. 
."  H.  '82. 
Kuhns,  L.  O.  '94,  '95,  '96  (^). 

Lajolo,  G.     See  '94.* 

Lane,  W.  C.  '85,   '90.     See  also  Dante 

Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  '87-'95. 
La  Ramee,  L.  de.  '95. 
Lawrence,  E.  '78. 
Lawton,  W.  C.  '84,  '95. 
Lea,  H.  C.,  tr.     See  Buonarroti,  M.  A. 

'82. 
Leahy,  W.  A.  '87. 
Leland,  C.  G.  '95. 

Lessona,  M.,  tr.     See  Schaff,  P.  '90. 
Lieber,  F.,  tr.     See  Niebuhr,  B.  G.  '35. 
Lillie,  L.  C.  '^7. 
Locke,  J.  E.  S.  '54. 
Loines,  R.  H.  '95. 
Longfellow,  H.  W.  '45  {%  '57,  '64,  '66 

tr.     See  Buonarroti,  M.  A.  '78. 

tr.     See  Dante.   '39,  '64,   '65,   '66, 

'67,  '86,  '90. 
tr.     See   Schelling,  F.  W.   J.  von. 

'50- 

See  also  Dante    Society,  Cambridge, 

Mass.  '82,  '85. 
Lord,  J.  '84. 
Lounsbury,  T.  R.  '92. 
Lowe,  M.  A.  P.  '59. 
Lowell,    J.    R.    '48,    '59,    '72,   '76,   '88. 

See  also  Dante    Society,  Cambridge, 

Mass.  '92. 


Also    Holland,     F.     M.     '96.       Also 

Wendell,  B.  '91. 
Lungo,  I.  del.     See  '91.* 
Lyell,  C.     See  Hitchcock,  E.  A.  '66. 

M.,  J.  W.  '%■]. 

Mabie,  H.  W.  '92. 

McAllister,  F.  M.  '-j-]. 

McCabe,  W.  G.  '62. 

McClintock,  P.  L.  '93. 

McClintock,  W.  D.  '93. 

McKenzie,  K.  '94. 

McLean,  L.  M.  '89. 

Marcucci,  E.,  tr.     See  Longfellow,  H. 

W.  '45. 
Marsh,  A.  R.  '93  f),  '96. 
Martin,  J.  L.  '31. 
Marvin,  F.  R.  '76. 
Masi,  ,  tr.     See   Parsons,   T.    W. 

'41. 
Matson,  H.  '92. 
Mead,  E.  D. '81. 
Merkel,  C.,  rev.     See  Gitterman,  J.  M. 

'90. 
Meyer,  C.  F.  '87. 
Michael     Angelo.         See     Buonarroti, 

M.  A. 
Minchin,  J.  I.     See  '85.* 
Mitchell,  E.  M.  '92,  '95. 
Mitre,  B.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '89,  '93. 
Moody,  W.  v.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '91. 
Moore,  E.     See  Dante    Society,    Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  '93,  '95.     See  also  '87,* 

'89,*  '90,*  '95.* 

rev.     See  Dante.  '89.* 

Morison,  J.  H.  '86. 

Morley,  H.,  ed.     See  Dante.  '86. 

Mott,  L.  F.  '92,  '96. 

Moyes,  D.,  tr.     See   Capri,   P.  G.  '74, 

'76. 
Muir,  M.  '81. 

Mullany,  P.  F.    See  Azarias,  Brother.  '86. 
Murat,  L.  '90. 
Musgrave,  G.     See  Harper,  G.  M'L.  '96. 


48 


INDEX   TO  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


ed. 

rev. 

rev. 

rev. 

rev. 

rev. 

tr. 


Niebuhr,  B.  G.  '35. 

Norton,  C.  E.  '59  (»),  '60  0,'6i  O,  '65, 
'66,  '67  (*),  '84,  '86,  '94. 

ed.    See  Dante.  '91. 

See  Salimbene,  Fra. 
See  Dante.  '57. 
See  Butler,  A.  J.  '80.* 
See  Moore,  E.  '87.* 
See  Plumptre,  E.  H.  '87.* 
See  Scartazzini,  J.  A.  '87. 
See  Dante.  '67,  '91,  '92  (^). 
Sec  also  Dante   Society,   Cambridge, 
Mass.  '82,  '85,  '93. 

Oelsner,  H.     See  '95.* 
Oliphant,  M.  O.  W.     See  '77.* 
O'Malley,  A.  '95. 
"  Ouida."  '95. 
Osgood,  S.  '59. 
Ossoli,  S.  M.  F.  '59. 
Ozanam,  A.   F.   '89,   '90.     See  also  Py- 
chowska,  L.  D.  '86. 


liani,  A.,  rev.     See  Fay,  E.  A.  '88. 
Paine,  S.  W.  '96. 
Pallen,  C.  B.  '90. 
Parsons,  R.  '87. 
Parsons,  T.  W.  '41,  '54. 
ir.     See  Dante.  '43,  '54,  '65,  '66, 

'67,  '69, '70  n, '720, '73  a '740, 

'75.'76, '77, '780, '79  f), '80  (3), '81, 

'83,  '93- 

Pasqualigo,  C,  rev.      See   Dante,  'gr. 

rev.     See  Harris,  W.  T.  '89. 

Pasqualigo,  F.,  rev.  See  Dante  Society, 
Cambridge,  Mass.  '89. 

Paton,  J.  N.     See  Kolstoi,  C.  S.  '86. 

Paton,  L.  A.  See  Dante  Society,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  '92. 

Payne,  W.  M.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '91  {^), 

'92  O,  '93- 

rev.     See  Butler,  A.  J.  '92.* 

Peabody,  E.  P.    See  Goodrich,  S.  G.  '36. 
Peabody,  J.  C.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '57. 


Pease,  T.  C.  '94. 

Pellico,  S.  '65. 

Pelton,  M.  L.  '84. 

Pinheiro,  J.  P.  X.,  tr.    See  Dante.  '85. 

Plumptre,  E.  H.    See  Vincent,  M.  R. 

'87.     Also  '87  * 
Pohl,  R.  '96. 
Ponte,  L.  da.  '25,  '27. 
tr.     ^^i-Byron,  G.  G.  N. '21, '22. 

See  also  Bernard!,  J.  '61,  '64. 
Ponte,  L.  L.  da.  *2)Z- 
Prescott,  W.  H.     See  Ticknor,  G.  '63. 
Preston,  M.  J.     See  Junkin,  M. 
Pullen,  C.  L.  '88. 
Pychowska,  L.  D.  '86. 
tr.     See  Ozanam,  A.  F.  '89,  '90. 

Rambaldi,  Benvenuto,  da  Imola.     See 
Norton,    C.    E.    '61.      Also    Dante 
Society,  Cambridge,  Mass.  '82,  '87. 
Reade,  J.  '72. 
Reinhart,  C.  S.,  illus.     See  Longfellow, 

H.  W.  '67. 
Rennert,  H.  A.,  rev.     See  Agnelli,  G. 
'91.* 

See  Howell,  A.  G.  F.  '91.* 
See  Lungo,  I.  del.  '91.* 
See  Ricci,  C.  '91.* 
See  '91,*  '92.* 

T.,   rev.     See    Boker, 


rev. 

rev. 

rev. 

Ricci,  C. 
Richardson,    G. 

G.  H.  '56. 
Richardson,  M.  M.     See  Muir,  M. 
Robertson,  D.  '84. 
Robertson,  E.  S.     See  Dante.  '67. 
Robinson,  H.  L.  S.     See  Shattuck,  H. 

L.  R. 
Rod,  E.  '91. 

Rose,  H.  D.     See  Durant,  H. 
Rossetti,  C.  G.  '84. 
Rossetti,    D.   G.,   tr.     See   Dante.    '87, 

'96. 

See  also  Hitchcock,  E.  A.  '66.    Also 

Ware,  L.  G.  '62.     See  also  '74,  '76.* 
Rossetti,  M.  F.  '86. 


INDEX    TO  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


149 


See  also   Dennett,  J.   R,    '72.      Also 

Lowell,  J.  R.  '72. 
Rossetti,  W.  M.    See  Norton,  C.  E.  'dd. 
Russell,  A.  P.  '79. 

S.,  G.,  rev.     See  Lane,  W.  C.  '90. 
Sadlier,  A.  T.  '95,  '96. 
Saint  Louis —  Public  library.  '90. 
Salimbene,  Fra.      See  Dante  Society, 

Cambridge.,  Mass.  '95. 
Sanborn,  F.  B.  '82. 
"  Sarepta."  '88. 

Sargent,  W.,  rev.    See  Boker,  G.  H.  '56. 
Savage,  M.  J.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '82. 
Scartazzini,   J.  A.    '87,  '88.      See   also 

'92,*  '93.*     Also  Marsh,  A.  R.  '96. 
Schaff,  P.  '46,  '48,  '90  (^),  '91. 
Schanz,  P.,  tr.     See  Longfellow,  H.  W. 

'67. 
Scheffer,  A.     See  Lowe,  M.  A.  P.  '59. 

Also  Parsons,  T.  W.  '54. 
Schelling,  F.  W.  J.  von.  '50. 
Scherb,  E.  V.  '58. 
Schuyler,  E.  '88  f). 
Schwerdtfeger,  E.  '76. 
Scott,  F.  N.  '91. 
Scotti,  C.  F.  '80. 

Scudder,  H.  E.,  ed.     See  Dante.  '86. 
Scudder,  V.  D.  '95. 
Sears,  E.  I.  '67. 
Seguier,  U.  F.  A.  '73. 
Sellar,  W.  Y.,  rev.    ^'^^Tunison,  J.  S.  '88. 
Sewall,  F.  '89,  '93. 

rev.     See  Harris,  W.  T.  '89. 

tr.     See  Carducci,  G.  '92. 

Shadwell,  C.  L.     See  '93.* 

Shattuck,  H.  L.  R.  '87. 

Sherman,  C.  K.  '87. 

Sherman,  L.  A.  '93. 

Sibbald,  J.  R.     See  '85.* 

Simms,  W.  G.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '53. 

Simon,  H.,  tr.     See  Longfellow,  H.  W. 

'45'  '67- 


Sinesi,  I.  '94. 
Smith,  E.  V.  '60. 
Smith,  J.  A.  '75. 
Snell,  F.  J.  '96. 
Snider,  D.  J.  '92,  '93. 
Soldan,  L.  F.  '75,  '77. 
Speranza,  C.  L.  '92. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Stevens,  S.  J.  D.  '88. 

Stoddard,  R.  H.  '61. 

Strong,  A.  H.  '88. 

Sullivan,  E.     See  '94.* 

Swing,  D.  '94. 

Symonds,  J.  A.     See  '90,*  '93.* 

T.,  M.  '41. 

Tassin,  A.  de  V.  '93. 

Tempest,  B.,  tr.     See  Dante.  '93. 

Thackray,  E.  A.,  rev.  See  Harris, 
W.  T.  '89. 

Thaxter,  C.  '90. 

Thayer,  W.  R.  '93. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '91  (^),  '92.    ' 

Thomas,  E.  M.  '90. 

Thompson,  R.  E.,  rev.     See  Dante.  '88. 

Ticknor,  G.  '63. 

Todd,  H.  A.  '91,  '92. 

Toohey,  J.  M.,  tr.     See  Wibbelt,  A.  '94. 

Toynbee,  P.  See  Dante  Society,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  '86,  '94. 

rev.     See  Dante.  '91  (^),  '92. 

rev.     See  Fay,  E.  A.  '88. 

Trask,  K.  '94. 

Tucker,  G.  '94. 

Tuckerman,  F.  G.  '60. 

Tuckerman,  H.  T.  '65. 

Tudor,  ^.,rev    See  Hunt,  (J.  H.)  L.  '16. 

Tunison,  J.  S.  '88. 

Turner,  C.  T.  '76. 

Uhland,  (J.)  L.  '53. 

Underwood,  F.  H.     See  Dante.  '67. 

Unity  Club,  St.  Louis.  '91. 

Unity  Study  Class,  -5"/.  Paul,  Minn.  '85. 


ISO 


INDEX    TO   BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


v..  U.  de.  '33. 

Venable,  W.  H.  '85. 

Vemon,  W.  W.     See  '94* 

Villa  da  Barra,   ,  tr.     See  Dante. 

•87. 
Vincent,  G.  E.  '86. 
Vincent,  M.  R.  '87.     See  also  American 

Dante  Society.  '91- 
Vinton,  F.  '-jy 
Vizcayno,  A.  M.,  tr.     See  Byron,  G.  G. 

N.  '50. 

Walford,  L.  B.  '89. 

Wall,  A.  R.  '90. 

Walsh,  H.  C,  ed.     See  Dante.  '88,  '89. 

Walter,  E.  L.  '89. 

rev.     See  Blow,  S.  E.  '86. 

rev.     See  Butler,  A.  J.   '86.* 

rev.     See  Fay,  E.  A.  '88. 

rev.     See  Plumptre,  E.  H.  '87.* 


Ward,  M.  A.  '87. 

Ward,  S.  G.  '44. 

Ware,  L.  G.  '62. 

Watson,  J.  '94,  '95. 

Waugh,  A.  '93. 

Welles,  B.  '07. 

Wendell,  B.  '91. 

Wetherill,  J.  K.  '84. 

Wheaton,  R.  '47. 

White,  I.,  ed.     See  Dante.  '94. 

Wibbelt,  A.  '94. 

Williams,  F.  H.  '91. 

Wilde,  R.  H.     See  '50.     See  also  Hil- 

lard,    G.    S.  '53.      Also   Irving,    W. 

'41. 
Wilson,  E.  '90. 

Wilstach,  J.  A.,  tr.  See  Dante.  '88. 
Winter,  W.  See  Boker,  G.  H.  '56. 
Witte,  K.,  ed.  See  Dante.  '65,  '94. 
Wright,  E.  '96. 


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NOV  16  1934 
NOV    1   1935 

MAR  13   1936 


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